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J LIBRARY OF CONeRESS.J 

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t UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. ! 






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KIND ^ORDS FOR CHILDREN, 



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®uik i\m h i\t ^Etlj of "^tut 



RET. HARVEY NEWCOIB, 

AUTHOR OP "how TO BE A MAN," "HOW TO BE A LADY," 
"THE HARVEST AND THE REAPERS," ETC. 



•' I love them that love me ; 

and those that seek me early shall find me." 

Peov. VIII. 17. 



BOSTON: 
aOULI> AND LINCOLN, 

59 WASHINGTON STREET. 

NEW YORK: SHELDON AND COMPANY. 

CINCINNATI : GEORGE S. BLANCHARD. 

1859. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 

GOULD AND LINCOLN, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 



Electrotyped by 
W. F. DRAPER, ANDOVER, MASS. 

Printed by 
GEO. C. RA:ND & A VERY, BOSTON. 



PREFACE. 



In these days tlie Lord appears to be " turning the 
hearts of the fathers to- the children/' and bringing 
many thousands of the young into the fold of the 
Good Shepherd. It is with the sincere desire to aid 
in this blessed work, that this book has been written. 

The author believes that children may be as easily 
interested in religious truth as in anything else, if it 
is presented to them in a manner suited to their ca- 
pacities; and the simple elements of the Christian 
Faith may be as easily understood by a little child as 



4 PREFACE. 

by a learned philosopher. The Good Shepherd has 
provided food for the lambs as well as the sheep. 

In these pages the author has aimed at simplicity 
of thought rather than of language, avoiding what 
might seem puerile ; but he has used the colloquial 
style, as best adapted to the minds of children. 

It is believed that there are thousands of children, 
of serious, inquiring minds, who will be glad of in- 
struction on the subjects treated of in this book ; and 
it is hoped that it may prove an acceptable present 
from parents to their children. 

Brooklyn, 1859. 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 

THE FEELINGS OF CHILDREN. 

PAGE 

All children have the same natiiye, 13 

Differences in children, 13 

How the author felt when a child, 14 

What some have told me, 14 

What a very little ghrl said, 16 

Two forms described, 17 

What religion is and is not, » 18 

The grafted tree, 20 

The journey of life, 22 



CHAPTER II. 

LITTLE CHILDREN MAY COME TO CHRIST. 

A Scene, 23 

Jesus sympathizes with mothers, 24 

Cares for the little children, 25 

1^ 



6 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Rebukes those who do not, 26 

To God no great, no small, 27 

Children may come to Christ, 28 

Jesus is willing that they should, 28 

It will never be easier than it is now, ........ 28 

Now is the favorable time, 29 

The dying boy, 31 

Pious children of old, 32 



CHAPTER III. 

SIN. 

An ugly word, an ugly thing, . » 34 

A little boy's soliloquy, 35 

No little sins, 36 

Opposition to God, . 37 

The heart coiTupt, , . 38 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 

♦ 

A man brought to Jesus, 40 

His sins forgiven, 41 

All need forgiveness, 41 

What it is to be forgiven, 42 



CONTENTS. 7 

PAGE 

Sins covered, 42 

Sins not imputed, 42 

Sins blotted out, 43 

Sins removed, 43 

How God forgives sin, 44 

Story of Jack, the deaf and dumb boy, 45 



CHAPTER V. 

REPENTANCE. 

What repentance is, 49 

A sense of sin, 49 

Sorrow for sin, 49 

Different kinds of sorrow, 49 

Judas and Peter, # . . . 49 

Other examples, 50 

The Publican, 51 

Hatred of sin, 51 

The mercy of God in Christ, 52 

Forsaking sin, 53 



CHAPTER VI. 

WHAT IS FAITH. 

A waiting company, 55 

Jairus, ' 55 



O CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

A Woman's faith, 56 

Abraham's faith, 59 

Faith in a bank, • 60 

Faith in God, - 59 

Saving faith, 60 

Peter's sermon, 60 

The eunuch's faith, . 61 

The jailer's faith, 62 

State of mind necessary to faith, . , 62 

Faith described, 63 

What I heard when a child, 64 

Story of Naaman, . . . o . . 67 

Afraid to venture, 64 

Kindness of Jesus, 66 

Jesus will not save those who do not beUeve, 68 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE NEW HEAKT. 

A difficulty, 70 

What the heart is, 71 

Why we need a new heart, 72 

Story of a little boy, 73 

Starting right, 75 



CONTENTS, y 

CHAPTER VIII. 

PIETY IN CHILDHOOD. 

PAGE 

What people expect of pious children, 78 

Effect of piety on children, 79 

The little Pharisee, 80 

Treatment of children, 80 

Not to be discouraged, 81 

Hasty profession, 81 

Careful preparation, 82 

Injury done, 82 

Perseverance of a little girl, 82 

"What some people thought, 83 

Jesus sympathizes with the trials of children, ..... 83 



CHAPTER IX. 

DEVOTION. 

Praying people, . . . . » 85 

Love of prayer, , . . 85 

Our Father in heaven, 86 

Present everywhere, . = 83 



10 CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



What we owe to him, 87 

Feelings of sinners toward him, 88 

What we may ask for, 89 

A little girl's prayer, 90 

Asking amiss, 91 

How to ask aright, 92 

" Mother, hasn't anything come yet?" 92 

Must feel om- need, 93 

The Publican and Pharisee, . . . ." 93 

Must be in earnest, 93 

Must ask in the name of Jesus, . 94 

Must persevere, 95 

Examples — poor widow — Gentile woman, 95 

Must seek as well as ask, 96 

Promises, . 97 

No form of words needed, .... - 98 

Ingratitude of neglecting prayer, 101 



CHAPTER X. 

GROWTH. 

Every living thing grows, 105 

The infant, 104 

The seed, 105 



C ONTENT S. 11 



PAGB 



Thefniit, 106 

The palm-tree, 106 

The cedar, 106 

The tree by the river, 107 

The living spring, 107 

Springs that dry up, 108 

The true and the false, 109 

The rising sun, 110 

How to grow in grace, 110 

The Spirit and the Word, Ill 

Pray, 112 

Watch, 113 

Deny self, ' 114 

Exercise, 116 

Effects of growth, 118 



CHAPTER XI. 

BACKSLIDING. 

What is meant by backsliding, 119 

Three kinds of backsliding, 120 

How to keep from backsliding, 126 

Sin of backsliding, 128 



12 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

GOD'S CARE OF THE SPARROWS. 

PAGE 

God's wisdom and power displayed in Creation, .... 129 

His goodness in his providence, 130 

Nothing left to itself, 133 

He cares alike for great and small, 134 

God orders what happens to ns, . .' 135 

Every thing comes from God, 136 

African boys sold into slavery, 136 

Their captivity turned to a blessing, ........ 138 

John Williams, the missionar}^, 137 

Watch God's providence, 139 

He will not overlook a little child, « . 140 

Ansfels take care of little children, 141 



KIi\D WORDS FOR CHILDREN. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE FEELINGS OF CHILDREN. 

"How does the writer of this book know how 
children feel r " This is the question that I should 
ask, if I were a child, on opening to this chapter. 
Well : In the first j^lace, you must know that the 
writer was once a child, and that he remembers 
something about his own childhood, and how he 
felt himself, when a child. But, perhaps you will 
say, "All children are not ahke; and it may be 
that I do not feel as you did." That is very true ; 
and yet, in some respects all children are ahke. 
They all have the same nature, and they must 
have some feelings in common. But different dis- 
positions will be differently affected by the same 

things. For instance : A bold, daring child would 
2 



14: FEELINGS OF CHILDREN. 

care very little for what would almost break the 
heart of the sensitive and timid. But I have other 
means of knowing how children feel, besides having 
been once a child myself. I am a father, and have 
watched the progress of my own children from 
infancy to manhood ; and besides this, the great- 
est part of my life has been devoted to children. 
Almost thirty years ago I began to write books for 
them ; and this has led me to study their character 
and feelings. And I have conversed with a great 
many children ; and with not a few, at that most 
interesting of all seasons, when their minds were 
exercised on the subject of religion. And it is of 
the feelings of children on the subject of religion 
that I would speak ; for, while I know it is of all 
subjects the most important, I believe that it is 
especially adapted to the young mind. And 1 
think there is no other subject that so readily com- 
mands the attention of a child. For myself, I can 
say that, when I was a child, as far back as my 
memory reaches, there was no subject that inter- 
ested me so much as this. I have heard other 
persons say that, when they were children, they 
thought religious people the most gloomy and un- 



HOAV A CHILD FELT. 15 

happy of mortals. But I never thought so. On 
the contrary, I could never see why they should 
not be the most happy people in the world ; and 
of all things that could be thought of, to he a 
Christian seemed to me the most desirable. But 
how to become a Christian^ was what I did not 
understand, or could not take hold of, except with a 
faint gleaming hope in the far distant future. Yet 
this was not because I could not understand 
preaching. I cannot recollect the time when I did 
not listen to preaching with deep and solemn earn- 
estness ; nor when I did not understand the plain, 
simple doctrines of salvation, as well as I could 
understand them without knowing them by ex- 
perience. Yet there was nothing remarkable in 
my childhood. I think these are the feelings of 
children generally. I have, indeed, conversed with 
some children, who told me they never thought 
anything about these things till they were awak- 
ened, and that they never had listened to preach- 
ing. But I think children who receive religious 
instruction are not generally so thoughtless. I re- 
member talking with a very little girl, to whom I 
put the question, "Are you a sinner?" — to which 



16 SIMPLE FAITH. 

she promptly replied, "No, sir." — "But," said I, 
"have you never done anything that was wrong?" 
"Oh, yes," she rejDlied; "a great many times." — 
"How, then," I said, "can you say that you are not a 
sinner ? " — " It is tooJcen away^'' she replied. " Who 
has taken it away?" I inquired again. She re- 
plied : " I have trusted in Christ." This, as I said, 
was from a very little girl, not five years old. Yet, 
in all the conversations I have had with grown 
people, I never heard a more intelligent, practical 
idea of faith in Christ. It is because I believe 
little children to be interested in what concerns 
the great interests of the soul, and capable of un- 
derstanding the simple doctrines of salvation, that 
I have undertaken to write this book for their 
instruction. 

In the very opening of your being, as you look 
out upon the morning of life, all bright and fair, 
two forms present themselves before you, to invite 
you to accompany them in different directions. 
The one, in gaudy attire, with a merry countenance, 
hails you with a joyous laugh, and touches you with 
her magic wand, which turns your liead and makes 
you giddy. Then she turns, and points with a 



THE FALSE AND THE TRUE. 17 

sneer to the other, casting a mist over your eyes, 
so that you see a rugged, hard-featured, sour and 
ugly form harshly frowning upon you, like some 
ill-natured jDerson who has forgotten his own 
childhood, and cannot endure the laugh of a child. 
" There ! " says the first — " there is Religion, If 
you become a Christian, you may bid farewell to 
me. My name is Pleasure, If you become relig- 
ious, you and I must part forever." But, tear off 
her gaudy dress, and wash off the paint from her 
face, and she will appear as frightful as old Time in 
the primer, — a ghastly skeleton, with a cloven 
foot, and the forked tongue of the old serpent, 
spitting fire, and shaking at you her bony fingers. 
And then, when the mist is cleared away, you will 
see, in the other direction, not the hideous object 
which she presented to your view, but a beautiful 
and majestic form, clad in purest white, smiling 
tenderly upon you, alluring you with sweet words, 
and encouraging you with gracious promises to 
nobler pursuits, higher aims, and purer joys. And 
among these sweet words are these : " I love them 
that love me, and they that seek me early shall 

find me." These are the words of Christ, speaking 

2* 



18 THE NEW LIFE. 

under the name of Wisdom ; and from tliem you 
learn that reUgion is not something that is to come 
to you unbidden, and to be waited for. Christ, 
the heavenly Wisdom, is to be found of them that 
seek him ; and to find him is to have religion. 
True religion is serving the Lord. It is embrac- 
ing Christ as your Saviour and Redeemer, and de- 
voting yourself to him. It is not a thing to be 
found Old of ourselves, or a thing that we are 
merely to ^^get ;'''' it is a life to he lived, 

" But, can I live this life without the Holy 
Spirit?" 

No. The very beginning of the new life is by 
the Holy Spirit : " Except a man be born of water, 
and of the Spirit.^ he cannot see the kingdom of 
God." But neither can you live the natural life 
without God. You are dependent upon God for 
the air you breathe, and for the power to draw it 
in, and for the vital force which takes out of the 
air your breathe what is necessary to keep you 
alive. But you need not %oait for the Holy Spirit; 
because, if you feel any disposition to turn to God, 
or to do right at all, that disposition comes from 
the Holy Spirit. You might as well wait for your 



THREE THINGS TO THINK OF. 19 

breath to come into your lungs, as to wait for God 
to do for you what you must do yourself. The 
word of God encourages us to do what we are 
commanded, because " it is God that worketh in us, 
both to will and to do, of his good pleasure ; " and 
he has promised to give his Holy Spirit to them 
that ask him. 

I know that some children think religion would 
spoil all their pleasure. They want to enjoy them- 
selves now ; and so they put far away all serious 
thousfhts, thinking: it will be time enouoh to become 
religious when they become men and women. But 
three thiiigs I wish all children to think of and 
remember. The first is, that, if you could have 
your fill of pleasure, and be able to gratify every 
earthly wish, that little girl who loves Jesus, though 
she may have nothing else, is ten times happier 
than you. The second is, that you may die before 
you are grown up, and then you will lose your 
soul. I know there is an impression abroad among 
children that pious children always die young, be- 
cause some books have been written about good 
children who have died. But did you ever think 
that no books are written about wicked children 



20 MANY ATICKED CHILDREN DIE. 

that die? It is not true that all pious children die; 
for the greater j)art of pious people become such 
while they are young. I have just laid down a 
paper which gives account of the licensing of six 
men to preach, four of whom were converted in 
childhood. And though some pious children die, 
a great many more die who are not pious. But 
suppose you put off this great concern, and live till 
you are grown ujd. Did you ever think how few 
there are, among all the people who live to be men 
and women, that ever become pious ? It is very 
probable, that if you grow up to be a man or a 
woman without piety, you will live and die without 
it. And then your soul will be lost. 

But let us suppose the best : suppose you do be- 
come religious after you have grown up. This is 
the third thing I wish to say to you : You will be 
sorry, as long as you live, that you did not become 
pious in childhood, I once bought some cherry 
trees and planted them in my garden. When they 
were very small, long before I bought them, the 
gardener had cut them off close to the ground, and 
grafted into the stump a little stem from a tree that 
he knew to be good. All the life and vigor of the 



THE GRAFTED TREE. 21 

root now grew into the graft ; and Avhen it was 
grown, all the fruit was good. Xot a single sprout 
started up from the old root. But I had a large 
tree in my field that had never been grafted. It 
had grown up wild, with a large trunk and spread- 
ing branches. The thought struck me : "Why can't 
I graft this tree, and make it bear good fruit ? " 
But if I had cut it off near the root, it was so large 
that a graft would not have grown in it. The sap, 
instead of going into the graft, would have run out 
where the stump was cut off; and then the wild 
wood would have sprouted up all round the stumj). 
So I climbed up into the tree, and cut off some of 
the small branches, and put in my grafts. They 
grew very nicely, and I thought I should have a 
fine tree. After waiting a suitable time, my grafts 
began to bear some good fruit. But then all the 
top of the tree, and all the branches that were left, 
were filled with wild fruit. Now, although this is 
not a perfect illustration, it is very much like the 
case we are speaking of. If you bring your heart 
and life thoroughly under the influence of religious 
principle and feeling while you are young, your 
whole character will be shaped and moulded by it. 



22 START RIGHT. 

Your evil passions and bad traits of character will 
not get the giant growth that you see in persons 
that have grown old in impiety. All your branches 
will bear good fruit. But, if you wait till you are 
men and -women before you begin a pious life, you 
will be like this wild tree : the old branches will 
grow, and bear wild fruit, and overtop the grafts, 
and make them grow gnarly and feeble. What I 
would persuade you to do is, to start right. If you 
were setting out on a long journey, you would not 
think of going half the distance before inquiring 
the way ; for you might have to go all that way 
back, and begin anew. But if you put off religion 
till middle life, you will have gone half the jour- 
ney of life in the wrong direction. You will not 
only have to go back to the starting-point and 
begin anew ; you will have the additional disad- 
vantage of all the wounds and scars and wrong 
habits you have got in the more than useless 
journey. 



CHAPTER II. 

LITTLE CHILDREN MAY COME TO CHRIST. 

When Jesus was going up from Galilee to Jeru- 
salem, great multitudes followed him, to hear his 
words, and to be healed of their diseases. Imag- 
ine the scene. See those mothers pressing through 
the crowd, leading their little ones, or carrying 
them in their arms. What do they want in this 
crowd ? They want Jesus to put his hands on the 
little children, and bless them. But some of the 
people that stood near the Lord frowned upon 
them, and bade them go away, and not trouble 
Jesus with their little children. They thought little 
children too insignificant to engage the attention 
of the great Messiah, the King of the Jews. But 
Jesus was much displeased ; and he rebuked them, 
and said, " Suffer the little children to come unto 
me, and forbid them not." And he took them up 
in his arms, and blessed them. This is one of the 



24 JESUS CARES FOR CHILDREN. 

most touching things related of Jesus. Here shines 
forth the God and the Man, He sympathizes with 
these mothers in their care for their children. This 
is human. He shows equal care for the least as for 
the greatest of his creatures. This is godlike. To 
God there is no great, no small. He cares for the 
little child as well as for the great angel. He 
directs the motion of the little mote, as well as of 
the sun that shines upon it. In these little chil- 
dren Jesus saw the opening bud that was to bloom 
as long as eternity endures. The disciples thought 
he was too busy in teaching full-grown men and 
women about the 2:reat "kino^dom of God" that 
was to come, to look at these little children. But 
they did not understand the wisdom and the 
power which are alike displayed in garnishing the 
heavens and painting a flower ; nor the providence 
that is equally concerned in the drowning of a 
world and in the falling of a sparrow. 

It is not uncommon, at the present day, for peo- 
ple to suppose that little children are too insignifi- 
cant to be the objects of the Saviour's regard ; nor 
for little children themselves so to mistake his 
character, as to look upon him with dread, as a 



KINDNESS OF JESUS. 25 

Being of such awful majesty that they are afraid 
to come near him. But just look at him, as he is 
presented in the scene here described. See him 
clasping these little ones in his arms, and, while he 
lays his hands on their heads, casting upon them 
such a sweet and heavenly smile as to disarm fear, 
and fill their infantile hearts with delight. And 
will you be afraid of such a gracious, loving Sav- 
iour ? The command of Christ to suffer the little 
children to come unto him, and forbid them not, 
forbids all persons discouraging or hindering little 
children coming to Christ. And if little children, 
or young children, or infants^ as these are de- 
scribed, may come or be brought to Jesus, then 
no children are too young to come to him. 

But, perhaps some of my readers will say, " I do 
not know how to come to Christ, nor what it is to 
come to him ; and I must wait till I am old enough 
to understand it." Let me say, in reply, that you 
can now understand what it is to come to Christ as 
well as you could if you were thirty years old. If 
you had been there, and had seen those mothers 
carrying their little ones, and leading others, who 
came up to him, and stretched out their little hands 

3 



2Q HOW TO COME TO JESUS. 

to receive his blessing, you would have been at no 
loss to understand what it was to come to him. 
And if you saw him now, standing and stretching 
out his arms, and calling to you, in sweet accents of 
love, " Suffer the little children to come unto me, and 
forbid them not," you would know Vf hat he meant. 
But he is now present in everyplace. Though his 
glorified body is in heaven, his Spirit is every- 
where. He is very near you. He can hear what 
you say. He knows what you think. And, in 
your h^art and mind, you may as truly believe on 
him, and come to him, as if he stood near you, and 
you saw him. You know what they did who 
came to him when he was in the world. Multi- 
tudes came to him. Some came from curiosity, to 
see his miracles ; others, to be healed of their dis- 
eases ; and others, to listen to his words, and to 
become his disciples. It was only these last that 
truly came to him, in the sense he speaks of so 
often, when he makes promises of grace and favor 
to them that come to him. This is the sense in 
which you must come to him. You must believe 
on him, receive and obey his words, and give him 
your heart. And if you cannot fully understand 



IT IS TO LOYE HIM. 27 

all this, there is one thing you can understand: To 
give him your hearty is to love liim^ and to love him 
so much that you would rather part with all other 
objects of love than vrith him. You know what it 
is to love, Tou love your parents. You love your 
brothers and sisters. You have affections. You 
can set your affections on Jesus ; and that will be 
coming to him. This is the reason that I say you 
can understand what it is to come to Christ now, 
as well as you ever can; because to love him 
comprehends it all. You cannot love him with- 
out believing on him ; and if you love him, you 
will gladly receive and cheerfully obey his instruc- 
tions. 

You need to come to Christ, because you are 
sinners. The word of God says, ^'' All have 
sinnedr You know that you have sinned. And 
you have within you those evil dispositions which, 
if acted out, would lead you into all sin. Those 
evil dispositions are themselves sin.. But if you 
have only committed one sin^ you have broken 
God's law, and are condemned. "He that offend- 
eth in one point is guilty of all."^ And there is 
no way in which you can be saved from your sins, 



28 JESUS IS WILLING. 

but by coming to Christ. "There is none other 
name under heaven given among men, whereby 
we must be saved." And "This is a faithful 
saying, that Christ Jesus came into the world to 
save sinners." If, then, you are a sinner, you are 
one whom Christ came to save. But if you would 
be saved by him, you must come to him, in the 
sense I have described. 

Jesus is vnlling that you should come to him. 
If he had not been willing, he never would have 
. said, " Suffer the little children to come unto me." 
When he said this, he meant you^ as well as those 
little children who were before him. If they were 
not too young to come to him, you are not. You 
may come to him now, if you will. He does not 
hinder you. He invites you to come. And if 
you come to him, he will help you and bless you, 
as he did the children of old. 

It will never he easier for you to come to Christ 
than it is now. You will have to repent of your 
sins when you come i^o Christ, and it will never 
again be so easy for you to repent as it is now ; 
because every day, every hour, every moment, you 
are sinning againt God, and so your sins are mul- 



NOW IS THE TIME. 29 

tiplying faster than you can count, and rolling up 
a terrible account, that continually makes the 
work of repentance more and more difficult. And 
every day that you are living in sin, you are hard- 
ening your heart against the truth, and against 
God, and against the love of Christ. Now, your 
affections are warmer and more lively than they 
will be when you grow older. You have not yet 
become so much in love with this world as you 
will be when you have followed longer its vain 
pursuits. Your heart is now tender. Now, then, 
it will be easier for you to turn to God and come 
to Christ, than ever it will be again. 

You never will have so favorable a twie to 
come to Christ as you have now. You are free 
from care. You have time to study God's word, to 
think, and to pray. Your temptations are not so 
great as they will be when you are a little older, 
and tlie deceitful j^leasures of youth allure you on 
every side, and plead for indulgence. And, should 
you pass through the period of youth and enter 
upon the busy scenes of life, then you will be sm*- 
rounded with worldly influences, and everything 
will tend to draw your heart away from God. 



30 DANGER OF DELAY. 

If yoii do not come to Christ now, it is not 
likely that you ever will. The longer you serve 
Satan, the more difficult will it be for you to 
escape from his power. Your sinful habits are 
strengthening, and becoming more and more diffi- 
cult to break offi Every time you yield to temp- 
tation, you increase its power over you, and make 
it more difficult to resist. And every time you 
turn a deaf ear to the warnings and invitations 
of God's word, tlie less impression they make upon 
you. When you drive away serious thoughts, you 
resist the Holy Spirit ; and every time you do this, 
the less will he strive with you. But a small 
proportion of those who pass the period of child- 
hood and youth in sin, ever turn to God and em- 
brace the Saviour. 

As I said before, you may die while you are 
children. And if you are called to " pass through 
the valley of the shadow of death," you will want 
Jesus Avith you. If laid on a bed of sickness, and 
filled with pain and distress, you will not want 
this great work to do then. You ought to come 
to Christ now, while in health, and your mind 
is active and strong; then you may have Jesus 



THE SICK BOY. 31 

to go to as a sympathizing Friend, to support 
you in your trials, and hold up your fainting soul, 
as you go down into the dark valley. And, as you 
have not a j^romise of long life, — as you may be 
snatched away by the stroke of death at any 
moment, — you ought to come to Christ now, that 
you may be prepared to die. I visited a sick 
boy, who had been a long time confined to his 
bed, Avho seemed very patient, though he svifFered 
much pain. I asked him where he thought he 
should go, if he should die ; and he said, " To 
heaven." I asked him what was the foundation 
of his hope of heaven ; and he replied, " Jesus." 
And, as he sunk away, and his spirit was taking 
its flight, his mother saw his lips move, and heard 
him lisping, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." And if God 
should call you to die, would you not like to 
have Jesus to support you in that trying hour? 
Many children have come to Christ and been 
blest by him. There were pious children before 
Christ came, when good people trusted in " Him 
that was to come." Joseph was pious while yet 
a lad. David was a pious youth. When a lad, 
following his father's sheep, he served the Lord, 



32 PIOUS CHILDREN. 

and wrote some of those beautiful psalms, which 
have been the delight and comfort of God's people 
in all ages. "The Lord is 77iy Shepherd^'^ said 
he, " I shall not want." As he fed the flocks 
that followed him, so he trusted in the Lord 
to provide for him. Josiah, who began to reign 
when he was but eight years of age, "did that 
which was right in the sight of the Lord." And 
because his heart was tender, and he was affected 
when he heard the words of the law, God j)rom- 
ised that the evil which he had determined to 
send upon the nation for their sins, should not 
come in his day. Samuel and Jeremiah were 
called of the Lord to be prophets while yet they 
were children. And so, we have reason to think, 
young Timothy served the Lord in his childhood; 
for Paul says, that from a child he knew the holy 
Scriptures ; and while yet a youth, he was with 
Paul preaching the gospel. Li the early history 
of the church, children were numbered among 
the people of God ; and we read of a boy who 
suffered martyrdom, being burned at the stake 
because he would not deny the Saviour. And 
now, in many places, great numbers of children 



JESUS "VYILL NOT FROWN. 33 

are coming to Christ, and being blest by him. 
And Avhy should not you come to him? He 
will not forbid you to come. He will not allow 
any one to forbid you. He will not frown upon 
you because you are young, or have so little 
knowledge. But, if he sees in you a heart to 
turn to him, he will encourage you ; he will wel- 
come you to his arms ; he will bless you. Come, 
then, to Jesus. See him, as he stood with gra- 
cious mien, taking the little children in his arms, 
and blessing them ! Behold him on the cross, 
suffering, bleeding, dying for your sins. Run to 
his arms. Let him have your earliest, strongest, 
best affections ; and he will clothe you with a 
clean white robe of his own, and raise you up 
to a seat at his own right hand in glory. 



CHAPTER III. 

SIN. 

I KNOW this is an ugly word ; and if I am so un- 
fortunate as to have for my reader one of those 
boys or girls who are afraid or ashamed to look at 
their own faces in the glass, my chapter may be 
passed over unread. But, if this is an ugly loord^ 
is not the thing signified by it an icgly thing ? Yet 
this ugly thing is in you, and around you, and, like 
an evil genius, follows you wherever you go. It as- 
sumes all imaginable shapes. To please your taste 
it allures you with a sweet morsel, but under your 
tongue it leaves the bitterness of gall. Or, it 
offers you the sparkling cup, to make you merry ; 
but, "at the last, it bitetli like a serpent and 
stingeth like an adder." It amuses you with airy 
castles, and mocks you with dreams of bliss. It 
appears beautiful and gay in your sight, but a 
horrid monster to others. I would rather amuse 



AN EVIL THING. 35 

you with a story, than to speak to you of so un- 
welcome a subject. But, if you were drowning in 
the water, or hanging by your hands over the edge 
of a precipice, or chased by a bear, you would not 
want to be amused with a story or a song. Yet 
from this monster your soul is in like peril ; and, 
though you may be inclined to turn away from it, 
that cannot be a dull subject which is so inti- 
mately connected with all that you are to be or to 
do in the future. 

But what is this evil thing? It is disohedienc^ 
to God, And a sinful heart is a heart that is in- 
clined to disobey God. The great evil of sin is, its 
opposition to God. It is not so much the thiiig 
done^ as its being done against God. I will show 
you how this is. A good mother was teaching her 
little boy his letters ; but he stoutly refused to re- 
peat them after her, till she chastised him, and he 
was obliged to submit. She afterward overheard 
him talking thus to himself: 

" Frank, you were a very naughty boy, to treat 
your good mother so." 

"Yes, I know I was. It was very naughty, 
indeed." 



36 NO LITTLE SINS. 

" But how could you do so, when she has been 
so kind to you, and when she was trying to do you 
good by teaching you to read ? " 

" I know it was very naughty ; but I thought I 
would see loho teas master ! " 

The great oiFence of this boy was, setting up his 
own will against his mother's authority ; and the 
great evil of sin is, our setting up of our wills 
against God's authority, and attempting to try our 
strength against his. This we do every time we 
disobey his holy law. This is the reason why 
there are no little sins. Every sin is refusing to 
submit to God's authority; and that is no light 
affair, though it may be with reference to a very 
little thing. But, in God's sight there are no little 
things. This world is made up of little grains of 
dust; and if there were one grain less, it would not 
be perfect. A chain is made up of a great many 
little links ; but if one link be broken, the chain is 
broken. It is impossible for you to tell what great 
events may hang upon that little thing that you 
do. Eating a little fruit, by our first parents, 

" Brought death into the world, 
And all our wo." 



SINNERS GROW AVORSE. 37 

But God looks at the heart ; and if he sees in our 
thoughts or feelings a rebellious spirit, that is sin; 
and so long as it is indulged, there can be no 
peace for us while God is on the throne. God 
and the sinner are at variance ; and so long as this 
continues, we must be miserable. While we con- 
tinue to oppose God's authority, he cannot be at 
agreement with us ; and if we are not in agree- 
ment with God, how can we have any true enjoy- 
ment or blessing? — for he is the author of all 
good. And, while you continue in this state, you 
are growing worse and worse. If sin is indulged 
and cherished in youth, the foundation is laid for 
a bad character, that shall go on from bad to 
worse. Evil passions, exercised, grow stronger; 
and the more sin is indulged, the firmer is its hold 
upon us. Christ enumerates a long catalogue of 
gross sins (Mark 7 : 20 — 23), and says they all 
come out of the heart. The disposition from 
which they proceed is there ; and the reason why 
it does not, in all cases, break out in oj^en trans- 
gression, is, that God restrains it. When he 
leaves sinners to themselves, they rush into all 
manner of sin. But he sees our hearts, and 

4 



do THE EVIL HEART. 

knows what is in us ; and he judges us, not by 
the outward appearance, but by the heart. The 
youngest child has these evils in his heart; and 
unless they are removed, they will destroy the 
soul forever. There is only one Person who can 
take away your sins, and that is Jesus Christ. 



CHAPTER ly. 

THE FOEGITEXESS OF SIN. 

"While Jesus vras in Capernaum, a great crowd 
gathered about the door of the house "^Yhe^e he 
was preaching, so that there was no room for 
them, even about the door. This crowd must 
have been very great ; for the houses of the 
wealthy in that country were built so as to have 
one very laro-e room. Such houses had a lar^e 
open court in the centre, and rooms were built 
all round this court, oj^ening into it. This court 
was paved with marble, and porches and a covered 
walk extended all around it. There was a flat 
roof over the room^, on which people might walk ; 
and this was reached, through the front porch, by 
a stairway. A railing on each side prevented 
their falling ofi. A great awning of coarse cloth 
v>^as spread over the oj)en court, to keej) off the 
sun and rain. In this place company was re- 



40 MEN IN EARNEST. 

ceived; and here it was that Jesus was preach- 
ing. 

There was a poor man who had the palsy, so 
that he was helpless, and could not go to Jesus 
himself. But his friends had told him Avhat won- 
ders Jesus had j)erformed in healing the sick; 
and he believed that if he could only get to Jesus, 
he might be restored to health, and be able to 
walk, and to take care of himself. His friends 
believed the same ; and they set out with a de- 
termination to see him. But there was sucli a 
crowd that they could not get near. If they 
had been faint-hearted, as many are in seeking 
Christ, they would have been discouraged, and 
turned away; or, perhaps they would have put 
it off till they could get to him more conveniently. 
But, no ; they were in earnest. The man was a 
great sufferer, lying helpless as he was ; and they 
determined to press through every difficulty, and 
bring him to Jesus. So they went into the porch 
of the house, and up the stairs that led to the roof, 
and passed around till they were nearly over where 
Christ was, and rolled back the awning, and re- 
moved the railings and let him down, with cords, 



GOOD CHEER. 41 

into the midst of the congregation. And when 
Jesus saw him, and j^erceived the faith of those 
that brought him, as well as his own, he addressed 
him in these words : " Sox, be of good cheek ; 

THY SIXS BE EORGIYEIS' THEE." HoW gracioUS 

these words! What joy and gladness they carried 
to this poor man's heart ! He came to be healed 
of his palsy — Christ forgave his sins. All disease, 
and suffering, and death, are the fruit of sin ; and 
when Christ forgave his sins, he removed the 
cause of all his evils, and gave him occasion to 

be of " GOOD CHEEE." 

But this man was no more a sinner than we all 
are. He needed the forgiveness of sin no more 
than we. 'No one can be happy unless his sins 
are forgiven. If your parents have threatened to 
punish all disobedience, and you have disobeyed 
them, you cannot be hapj)y until you are assured 
that they have forgiven you. You cannot endure 
their displeasure. You are wretched until this 
breach is made up. So it is between us and God. 
His terrible frown rests on all sinners. While 
it continues, they can have no peace. They are 
afraid of God. ^\iq forgiveness of sin is the only 
4* 



42 FOKGIVENESS OF SIN. 

thing that can give substantial ^^ good cheer'''' to 
the soul. The mirth and apparent enjoyment of 
sinners are deceptive and vain. 

But, what is the forgiveness of sins? We may 
learn the nature of forgiveness by the comparisons 
used in Scripture to describe it. David, in the 
thirty-second psalm, calls it covering: "Blessed 
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin 
is cover edP So, also, in tlie eighty-ninth psalm : 
" Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people ; 
thou \i2.^t. covered all their sin." What is covered^ 
is hid^ and out of sight. If God covers our sins, 
they will never be seen again. 

So he calls it not imputing our sins to us: 
"Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imput- 
eth not iniquity." To impute to any one, is to 
reclwn to his account. If God forgives us our 
sins, he will not any more reckon them against 
us. When a man buys anything of another w^ith- 
out paying for it at the time, the man of whom 
he buys reckons it to his account, and charges it 
against him in a book. God compares our sins 
to an account written against us in a book; for 
he says that, in the day of judgment, the dead 



SCARLET MADE AVHITE. 43 

shall be judged "out of those things that are writ- 
ten in the books, according to their works." But 
when a man pays a debt, the charge is blotted out 
of the book, or else a credit is made to balance 
against it. So when God pardons our sins, he 
uses the same figure, and says he will hlot them 
out / " Repent ye, therefore, that your sins may 
be blotted outP He blots out the charges, and 
remembers them no more against us. He also 
calls it removing them. "As &r as the East is 
from the West, so far hath he removed our trans- 
gressions from us." It is likewise compared to 
the washing of blood out of a garment. There 
w^as an old superstition, that the blood of a mur- 
dered man could not be washed out till the mur- 
derer was punished. But God says, "Though 
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as 
snow." 

From all these descriptions, we conclude that, 
when God forgives our sins, he will treat us as if 
we had never sinned. He will receive us into his 
favor, treat us as his children, and never reproach 
or punish us for our sins. What child does not 
know the hapj)iness of being forgiven by his par- 



44 HOW CAN SIN BE PAKDONED? 

ents? When you have been disobedient, and 
your parents are oiFended with you, how miserable 
you feel! but, when assured that they have for- 
given you, and received you again into their favor, 
your heart is light, and you are happy again. 
You cannot lie down in peace and sleep, when 
you know that your father or mother is angry 
with you. And when you know that your heav- 
enly Father, against whom you have sinned, is 
angry with you every day, how can you sleep in 
peace ? But, if you make your jDcace with him, 
and he gives you a sense of pardon, then you can 
lay your head on your pillow and sleep sweetly. 

Bitt^ hoio can our si7is be pardoned ? How can 
we receive forgiveness ? This is the great ques- 
tion; for, without the forgiveness of sins, we are 
miserable; and, unless they are forgiven in this 
life, we must be miserable forever. 

David felt this, when he said, " Out of the 
depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. If thou. 
Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall 
stand ? " He saw his sins. He felt his condemna- 
tion. He saw that he could not answer for one of 
his sins. He looked up out of the depths of his 



THE RED HAND. 45 

sorrow and humiliation, and he saw there was 
light : ^^ There is forgiveness loith tJiee^ that thou 
mayest be feared." But, how can God forgive sin, 
and be true to his word, when he has threatened 
. to punish sinners ? The answer to this question 
is revealed in the gospel : " God hath exalted 
his Son Jesus Christ to be a Prince and a Sa- 
viour, to give repentance and remission of sins ; " 
and through him^ Paul says, " is preached unto us 
the forgiveness of sinsT " And hy him all that 
believe are justified from all things frpm which 
we could not be justified by the law of Moses." 
The sufferings and death of Jesus Christ are the 
only ground upon which sin can be forgiven. He 
has purchased forgiveness with his own blood. 

A good lady in Ireland took a poor deaf and 
dumb boy, named Jack, and educated him, and 
taught him the Bible. The lady also was deaf, 
and they used to talk by signs, and by writing on 
a slate. One day they were speaking about the 
account that God keeps of our sins. The lady 
asked him if he thought he had any sins charged 
against him in God's book. He said he knew he 
had a great score; "but," said he, "Jesus has 



4G CONFESS AND FORSAKE SIN. 

passed liis own red hand over them, and blotted 
them out with his own blood, so that they will 
never be seen again." 

I^ut^ lohat must ice do to ohtain the forgiveness 
of our si?is^ through Jesus Christ? It is cer- 
tain that God will not forgive sin in such a way 
as to encourao:e us to continue in it. Thouo:h 
Christ has purchased our pardon, yet he will not 
save us in our sins, but from them. The first 
thing that we are to do, then, is to confess and 
forsake our sins. We can never find peace while 
we attempt to hide our sins, to justify them, or 
to continue in them. David found it so. " When 
I kept silence," he says — that is, when he refused 
to confess his sins — "When I kept silence, my 
bones waxed old through my roaring all the day 
long." . . . Then he says, "I acknowledged my 
sin unto thee, and mine iniquity I have not hid. 
I said, I will confess my transgression unto the 
Lord ; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." 
While his heart remained hard, and he refused to 
confess his sins, he was wretched ; but as soon as 
he opened his heart to God, and acknowledged 
his sin, and humbled* himself "before the Lord, 



BE PEXITEXT. 47 

God forgave his sin. You have, I doubt not, had 
a similar exj^erience towards your parents. When 
you have disobeyed, or otherwise offended them, 
so long as you have continued sullen, and tried to 
hide your fault, you have been unhappy, wretched, 
and miserable. But as soon as your heart has 
melted, and you have ingenuously confessed your 
fault, and sought their forgiveness, you have re- 
ceived it ; you have been restored to their favor, 
and made happy. And when you have done 
this before God, in the spirit of a true penitent, 
you may be assured of his forgiveness. But you 
must ask it in the name of Jesus, while you trust 
in his atoning blood, as the only ground of for- 
giveness. And then you must forsake your sins ; 
for if you do not give up all for Christ, you can- 
not be his disciple. You cannot be Christ's and 
live in the love and practice of sin. What would 
your father or mother say, if you were to confess 
your fault, and receive their forgiveness, and then 
go right away and do the same thing over again ? 
They would say you were trifling with them. 
And surely, the great God who made you, and 
who keeps you alive every day, will not be trifled 
with. 



48 BE OF GOOD CHEER. 

And now, dear reader, do you want your sins 
pardoned ? Then confess them before God, and 
ask his forgiveness, in the name of Jesus, and he 
will say, " Son, daughter, be of good cheer, thy 
sins be forgiven thee." 



CHAPTER V. 



REPENTA^^CE. 



Repentance is the act of a sinner in turning 
to God. But this includes several things. The 
first is a " true sense of sin." Iso one would think 
of turning about, and taking a new path, until 
convinced that he was sfoino; Avrono\ So no one 
will think of turning from sin to God, till he feels 
that he is a sinner. Another thing is, sorrow for 
sin. But there are different kinds of sorrow for 
sin, as there are different kinds of repentance. 
Peter and Judas both repented ; but their repent- 
ance was not of the same kind. Paul says, "The 
sorrow of the world worketh death; but godly 
sorrow worketh repentance not to be rej^ented 
of." When Judas saw w^hat he had done, by 
betraying Christ, he was sorry, and icent and 
hanged himself. His repentance worked death. 
He was not truly penitent. His heart did not 

5 



OO TRUE AND FALSE REPENTANCE. 

melt from love to Jesus, whom he had deeply 
injured. He felt guilty. He saw to what a sad 
case he had brought himself He had no faith in 
Christ, or hope of pardon, and so he went and 
hanged himself. 

But Peter, after he had denied his Lord, went 
out and wept bitterly. He believed in Jesus, and 
loved him; and he was filled with grief for what 
he had done. This was true repentance. When 
a child does a bad act, and it is found out, and he 
sees that he must be punished, he is sorry, not 
for what he has done, but because he is likely to 
be punished. But this is not true repentance. 
Another does v/rong ; and when he thinks of it 
he is sorry, because he has done v^rong. Pie does 
not wait to be found out, but goes and confesses 
his fault, and asks pardon. This is true repent- 
ance. A very little girl Avent into a neighbor's 
garden, and got some plums from a tree. When 
she came home, her mother reproved her for it, 
and told her it was sin. Then she Avas very 
sorry, and wept as if her heart Avould break, so 
that her mother could not pacify her. And she 
would not eat the plums. Some one asked her 



SELF-COXDEMNATION. 5l 

Avliy she Avept so, and she said, " because it v:as 
siJi.'^^ Her sorrow was of the true kmd. It was 
not because she feared punishment, but because 
it teas sin. She was a truly pious girl, and she 
exercised true repentance. She would not have 
taken the fruit if she had known it was sin. 

Another exercise of mind in true repentance is 
self-concIem7iation, You will understand what I 
mean, if you read and consider the parable of the 
Pharisee and the Publican. When the Publican 
went up into the temple to pray, he stood afar 
off, and would not so much as lift up his eyes 
to heaven, but smote on his breast, and said, "-God 
be merciful to one a sinner,^'' He condemned him- 
self. He felt himself to be a sinner. He was such 
a one as Jesus came to save. He says he came 
" not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repent- 
ance." If any iare truly righteous they need no 
repentance. If they think they are good, they 
are not prepared to repent. 

Another thing in repentance is, hatred of siii. 
Impenitent sinners — that is, sinners who have 
not repented — love sin. But, when they have 
been truly sorry for sin, there is nothing they so 



52 SIN MUST BE FORSAKEN. 

much hate. The httle girl I have mentioned was 
so affected with a sense of her sin, that for a long 
time she w^ould not eat any plums. She could 
not bear the sight of them, because they reminded 
her of her sin. 

It is necessary, also, that we should perceive 
the mercy of God, through Jesus Christ, in order 
to exercise true repentance. Nothing but a sight 
of Christ, by faith, will break a sinner's heart. 
The fear of punishment awakens. A sense of the 
love of God in Christ subdues. 

Another part of repentance is, forsaMng sin. 
Some people think they can sin as much as they 
please, and once in a while go to their priest and 
get their sins pardoned, and then go on to sin 
again as before ; and others will seem to be very 
sorry for their sins, and ask God to pardon them, 
and then go right away and do the same thing 
over again. But God will not accept such repent- 
ance. " He that confesseth and forsaJceth his sins, 
shall find mercy." It will not do to go on sinning 
and repenting in this way, committing the same 
sin every day, and repenting every night. It is 
true, indeed, that no one is perfect, and every one 



CALL TO REPENTANCE. 53 

sins every day by not being perfectly conformed 
to the la^v of God. But no one who is truly peni- 
tent can go on in the love and allowed practise of 
sin. If he falls into sin, he will be sorry for it as 
soon as he sees it, and confess it, and seek pardon 
of God. , 

Jesus calls sinners to repentance. All who hear 
and obey his call, he will ^ save. When children 
begin to be serious, they think they must wait 
till they are better before they come to Christ. 
This is a great mistake. They think they are too 
bad to come to Christ as they are. They go 
about trying to make themselves better, and pre- 
23are themselves to come to Christ. And some- 
times they will try to feel had^ hoping that God 
will j)ardon their sins heccmse of their sorroio and 
mourning; as though they could by such means 
atone for their sins. But there is no merit in this, 
any more than there is in the penance of the Pa- 
pist, who whips himself, or walks over sharp stones 
on his knees ; and, instead of growing better by 
such means, they find themselves continually 
growing worse. But when Christ was on earth, 
the Pharisees, who thought themselves very good, 

5* 



54 JESUS CALLS SINNERS. 

found fault with him, because he kept company 
with sinners; but he told them that he came not 
to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. 
If they were as good as they thought they were, 
they needed no Saviour; and if they were not, 
they were in no condition to be benefited while 
they felt no need of him. If you feel that you are 
a sinner, you are such^a one as he came to save. 
If you could make yourself good, then you would 
not be such a one as Jesus came to save. The 
people whom Jesus healed did not wait till they 
got well of their diseases, and then go to Christ; 
but they came just as they were, and he healed 
them. And so, if you will go to him just as you 
are, and look to him for the pardon of your sins, 
he will forgive you, and make you blessed. 



CHAPTER VI. 

WHAT IS FAITH ? 

On one occasion, when Jesus returned from the 
country of the Gadarenes to his own city, Caper- 
naum, he found a great company waiting for him 
at the seaside. While he was speaking to them, 
Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue, en- 
treated him to go and heal his daughter, who lay 
at the jDoint of death. Ever ready to hear the cry 
of distress, his compassionate heart was touched, 
and he went, followed by a great crowd of people, 
who thronged him on every side. On the way, 
there came a woman in the crowd, who had been 
afflicted for twelve years with an incurable disease. 
She was a timid woman, and she was afraid to go 
up boldly to Jesus, and ask him to cure her. Yet 
she had strong faith ; for she said, " If I may but 
touch his clothes, I shall be whole." So she passed 
through the crowd, and came up behind him, and 



5Q A ayoman's faith. 

touched the hem of his garment, — the fringe^ 
which was ordered to be worn ( Numbers 15 : 38, 
39); and the moment she touched his garment, 
she was cured of the disease. But she coukl not 
conceal herself, nor hide from Jesus what was 
done; for he knew all things. And perceiving 
that virtue had gone out of him, he turned about 
in the press, and said : " Who touched my clothes?" 
The people denied that they had touched him. 
The disciples said the multitudes were thronging 
him, and could not help touching him ; and they 
wondered that he should ask such a question. 
But he said, " Somebody hath touched me ; for I 
perceive that virtue hath gone out of me." He 
saw that some one had touched him, with faith in 
his power to heal^ and he looked round about to 
see who had done it. Then the poor woman was 
frightened. She was afraid she had done wrong ; 
and she came trembling with fear, and fell down 
before him, and told what she had done, and Avhat 
had happened to her. But, instead of chiding her, 
as she feared, he turned upon her a look of tender- 
ness, and said: "Daughter, be of good comfort; 
thy faith hath made thee loholeP For he never 



WHAT IS FAITH ? 57 

frowned upon any who came to bim, either for 
healing or for instruction. 

This narrative shows v:liat faith is. This wo- 
man believed tliat Jesus had power to cure her 
disease. She believed this power was in him, so 
that if she only touched him she would be cured ; 
and, so believing, she touched him. Christ said 
her faith had made her whole. How did her faith 
make her whole ? It led her to touch him. If she 
had not believed in his divine power, she would 
not have touched him ; and if she had not touched 
him, or applied to him in some way, she would not 
have been made whole. 

This shows that faith is such a belief of the 
truth as leads us to act accordingly. If this wo- 
man had believed that Christ could cure her, and 
yet had not come to him to be cured, her faith 
would have been a dead faith ; for the apostle 
James says, " Faith without works is dead." Faith 
that does not produce action, is not reckoned in 
the word of God as faith. 

I will give you several other illustrations, like 
this which I have related. Mr. Cecil tells a story, 
which perhaps some of my readers may have seen 



58 A LITTLE girl's FAITH. 

before; but it will bear repeating. He tells us 
how lie explained faith to his little daughter. She 
was playing with some beads, and seemed to be 
delighted with them. She thought as much of 
them as a man would of a thousand dollars. After 
talking with her a few minutes about the beads, 
Mr. Cecil told her to throw them in the fire. The 
tears started in her eyes. She looked at him to 
see if he was in earnest. He told her to do as she 
pleased ; " but," said he, " you know I never told 
you to do anything which I did not think would 
be good for you." She looked at him a few mo- 
ments longer, and then, with great effort, as though 
she were giving up something that she highly 
valued, she dashed them into the fire. He then 
told her that she should hear more about it an- 
other time. A few days after, he bought her a 
box full of larger beads, and some other toys ; and 
w^hen he gave them to her, she burst into tears for 
joy. Then he told her that it was her faith in 
her father that led her to throw her beads in 
the fire. She believed what he said, and acted 
accordingly ; and if she had faith in God, it would 
lead her to trust in him in like manner, and to do 



abraha:m's faith. 59 

what he commands, trusting him to do for her as 
he saw best. 

The Bible is full of stories w^hich illustrate faith. 
Abraham had faith in God. How did he show" it ? 
God had j^romised that his seed should be as the 
stars of heaven for multitude; and that his son 
Isaac should be the common father of this mul- 
titude of people. He had other sons; but God 
said to him, " In Isaac shall thy seed be called." 
And yet God bade him take his only son Isaac, and 
go up to the top of a mountain, and offer him up 
there for a burnt offering. Abraham believed God. 
He had perfect confidence in his word ; and there- 
fore he hesitated not a moment to obey his com- 
mand. The apostle Paul tells us how it was that 
Abraham could reconcile this act of his with the 
belief that Isaac should be the father of such a 
multitude of people. He knew God was able to 
raise him up again ; and he had confidence in him 
that he would fulfil his promise. Therefore he 
obeyed, though his obedience seemed to be against 
the promise. This was faith in God. 

These examples shoAV what faith is. Faith in a 
father, is confidence in him. Faith in God^ is con- 



60 FAITH IN CHRIST. 

fidence in Hhn, In both cases, it leads us to act 
according to our belief. Take another case. You 
have something to sell, an'd the purchaser gives you 
a bank bill. You look at it, and it reads, that such 
a hanh proinises to pay so ranch. If you believe 
the bill to be good, you Avill take it. This would 
be faith in the hanJc, Now, suppose you read a 
promise of God in his holy word, the condition of 
which is, obedience to a certain command ; and 
believing in the j^romise, you obey the command, 
that would be faith in God, True faith in God is 
exercised only by the truly pious. But what is 
called saving faith., differs from this in its being 
exercised towards a different object. It is faith in 
Christ as a Saviour. HapjDily, we have some ex- 
amples of the exercise of this faith in the word of 
God, which explain it. After Peter's sermon, on 
the day of Pentecost, the people were " pricked in 
their hearts." Conviction of sin fastened upon 
them. They saw that they were condemned by 
the law of God. They saw that they could do 
nothing to save themselves. They cried out, 
"Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Then 
Peter said, "Repent, and be baptized, everyone of 



EXAMPLES. 61 

you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, for the remis- 
sion of sins." And there were three thousand 
baptized that day. You will notice that they were 
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesiis^for the 
remission of their sins. We know that being 
baptized with water would not save them. But 
their being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesiis^ 
showed that they Relieved in him^ and tricsted in 
him for their salvation. By doing so, they openly 
professed to be Christ's disciples, and exposed 
themselves to the hatred and persecution of the 
Jews. They believed in Jesus as a Saviour of the 
world, and trusted in him for their own salvation. 
And when they openly professed his name, they 
acted out the faith that was in their hearts. 

Some time after this, Philip met the Ethiopian 
eunuch, riding in his chariot, and reading the 
prophet Isaiah. And when Philip explained to 
him that what he was reading referred to Christ, 
and related the story of his sufferings and" death, 
he wanted to be baptized. And Philip said, "If 
thou believest loith all thine heart., thou mayest." 
The eunuch replied, "I believe that Jesus Christ 

is the Son of God." This declaration he made, in 

6 



G2 BELIEVING WITH THE HEART, 

view of what Philip had said. This shows that he 
believed this truth in the sense proposed by Philip, 
— vnth all his heart. It was not merely that he 
was convinced in his mind that Jesus Christ is the 
Son of God ; his heart approved the doctrine, it 
engaged his affections, and he rested on it for sal- 
vation. 

We have another example in the case of the 
jailer at Philippi. After the earthquake, which 
opened the prison doors, he sprang in, and came 
trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and 
said : " Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? " And 
they answered, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and thou shalt be saved." And immediately he 
believed, and was filled with joy, and openly pro- 
fessed his faith in Christ, by being baptized in his 
name. His belief also engaged his hearty for it 
filled him with joy. And he acted out his belief 
by openly professing Christ before men. 

I will now give an illustration a little different 
from these. "When the children of Israel were in 
the wilderness, they sinned against God. He sent 
fiery flying serpents to chastise them, and many of 
them died. Then they cried unto the Lord, and 



THE BRAZEN SERPENT. 63 

begged for mercy; and the Lord ordered Moses to 
make an image of the serpent, of brass, and raise 
it up on a pole, in the sight of all the people ; and 
he i^romised that all who looked upon it should 
live. But no one would look on the image, to be 
saved from the bite of the serpent, unless he 'be- 
lieved the promise of God. This brazen serpent, 
that was raised on a pole, was a type of Christ, 
He says, " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted 
up, that whosoever believeth on him might not 
perish, but have everlasting life." The act of the 
mind that leads a sinner to look to Christ, is like 
the act of the bitten Israelite, looking to the image 
of the serpent on the jDole. He first believes the 
word of God, which declares that he that believeth 
on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved ; then he 
actually looJcs to Christy not literally Avith his eyes, 
but with his mind and heart, and trusts in his holy 
obedience and atoning blood for salvation. 

A little girl was seeking her father, who had 
gone into the cellar, by a trap-door, without a light. 
Coming to the door and looking down, she could 
see nothing, for it was dark. She called out. 



64 A LITTLE girl's FAITH. 

"Father, are you clown cellar?" — "Yes, daughter,''' 
he replied; "would you like to come, Mary?" — "It's 
all dark, I can't come," she answered. "Well, 
Mary," said her father, " I am right below you, and 
I can see you, though you cannot see me. Drop 
yourself down, and I will catch you." — "Oh," said 
she, " I shall fall ; I can't see you." — " I know it," he 
replied; "but I am truly here, and you shall not 
fall or be hurt. I will catch you." She strained 
her eyes, but could not see him. She hesitated, 
then stepped forward, and threw herself down, and 
was caught in her father's arms. This was faith — 
faith in her father. And the same feeling and ac- 
tion towards Christ is faith in him. Though you 
cannot see him, he is truly present ; and if, with 
your mind and heart, you trust yourself to him, 
as it were casting yourself into his arms, he will 
save you. 

While salvation is freely offered to all who be- 
lieve on Jesus, you will see by the illustrations that 
have been given, that a certain state of mind is 
necessary before any one will believe in him. No 
one will go to Christ who does not see himself to 
be a sinner, justly condemned. He must also feel 



CONVICTION. 60 

that, in himself, he is helpless. The poor woman 
who came to Jesus to be cured, felt so. She had 
tried all that the physicians could do, and only 
grew worse. Her case was like that of sinners, 
who try in their own strength to make themselves 
better. They are only growing worse, till they 
come to Christ. 

The 23eople who cried out on the day of Pen- 
tecost, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" 
would never have believed in Christ if they had 
not been convicted of sin, and seen that they 
were in a lost condition. The jailer would never 
have thouo-ht of askino^ what he should do to be 
saved, if he had not felt that he was lost. The 
people that were bitten by the fiery serpents 
would not have looked to the image on the pole, 
if they had not felt that death was in them. So, 
no one will believe in Christ till he sees himself 
to be a sinner condemned and lost, and feels that 
there is no hope for him but in Christ. 

After these illustrations, Ave are prejDared for a 

simple definition of faith. Faith, in general^ is 

belief of the truth, and resting the mind upon it, 

so as to influence the conduct accordingly. Faith 

6* 



Q6 AYHAT FAITH IS. 

m God^ is confidence in him, and resting tlie mind 
and heart on the truth of his word. And this 
faith is necessary to all acceptable worship ; for 
"he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, 
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently 
seek him." Faith in Christy is a helief in him as 
the Saviour of the vaorld^ and a resting upon hiin^ 
w^ith the mind and heart, -as our Saviour. And 
whoever thus believes, shall be saved. We have 
the word of God for it. 

This seems very simple and easy; and the won- 
der is that every one does not believe, and be 
saved. I remember hearing a person say, when 
I was a child, that it seemed to her that it was 
a very easy thing, in the days of the apostles, to 
become Christians — '•Hhey only had to helieveP 
But the religion of Jesus Christ has not changed. 
The same is true now — we have oiily to helieve. 
But why, then, do not all believe, and be saved ? 
We read that the preaching of the Cross vv^as a 
stumbling-block to the Jews, and to the Greeks 
foolishness. It is the same now, to many souls. 
It is so simple and easy that many reject it. You 
remember the story of IsTaaman. He Avas a great 



THE CAPTIVE GIRL. 67 

raiin in his nation — a man of very great honor 
with the king of Syria. But he had the leprosy. 
A little Hebrew girl, who had been taken captive 
in war, and made a servant in his family, told her 
mistress about the prophet Elisha, and said if her 
master would go to him, he might get cured of 
his leprosy. So the king sent him, with a train 
of servants, to Elisha. When he came to the 
prophet's door, Elisha did not even come out to 
see him, but sent his servant to tell him to go and 
wash seven times in the Jordan, and he should 
be cured. But ISTaaman was very angry that the 
prophet should tell him to do so simple a thing. 
If all he had to do Avas to v/ash in the river, 
he said he had better rivers at home. He thought 
the prophet would come out to him, and smite his 
hand over the place, and call upon the name of 
his God, and he would be healed. This shows 
the state of mind of a great many unconverted 
persons. They are willing to do some great 
thing. Or, if they could have such a great ex- 
perience as they have read of, or heard some one 
relate, they would like to be Christians. But 
simply to believe in Christ, and to rest wholly 



68 KINDNESS OF JESUS. 

and alone upon liirn for salvation, offends them. 
And yet there is no other way. " There is none 
other name under heaven given among men, 
whereby we must be saved." And, though you 
were to go round the globe on your hands and 
knees, or give all you have to the poor, or suffer 
your body to be burned at the stake — all this, 
and a thousand other self-denials, would not save 
you. " He that helieveth not shall not see life, but 
the wrath of God abideth on him." 

Are you afraid to venture upon Christ, because 
you are a sinner, and so unworthy ? So was the 
j)Oor woman Avho followed Jesus in the crowd ; 
and she crept ujd stealthily behind him, and 
touched the hem of his garment. But, see how 
he treated her. He did not rudely repulse her, 
and send her away. He did not even rebuke her. 
He spoke kindly to her. He called her " daugh- 
terP He said, " Be of good comfort." He as- 
sured her that her faith had made her whole. So 
faith in Christ will cure you of the disease of sin. 
And it is as easy for you to believe in him as it 
was for her. Christ is as full of tender compas- 
sion now as he was then. You need not be afraid. 



THE POOR woman's FAITH. 69 

You need not come fearing and trembling, as this 
poor woman did. He is near you. He is ready to 
save. But he will save none who do not believe 
in him. " He that beheveth not is condemned al- 
ready, because he hath not believed in the only- 
begotten Son of. God." This woman would not 
have been cured of her disease, if she had not 
believed on him, and come to him. Consider her 
faith : " If I may but touch the hem of his gar- 
ment, I shall be made whole." She had wasted 
her living on physicians, and was no better, but 
worse. If you are an unconverted sinner, your 
disease, like hers, is growing v/orse every day ; 
and all your expedients for relief will be vain, till 
you come to Christ. It will kill your soul if it 
is not removed. But, if you can, by faith, but 
touch the hem of Christ's garment, you shall be 
saved. " He that believeth on him shall not come 
ii>to condemnation, but is passed from death unto 
life." Imitate this woman, and believe on him, 
and he will say to you in spirit, as he did to her 
in words, " Son, daughter, be of good comfort ; 
thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace." 



CHAPTER VII, 



THE NEW HEART. 



I EEMEMBER that, when I was a child, the idea 
that I must have a 7ieio heart before I could do 
anything right or acceptable to God, was a great 
difficulty in my way. I knew that I was to blame 
for having a bad heart; but how I was to get a 
new heart, was a great mystery to me. It seemed 
to me to be something that must come upon me, 
without any agency of my own ; and that, there- 
fore, I must wait for it. And yet this did not sat- 
isfy my conscience for remaining in sin; for I knew 
that I was responsible for doing wrong, and that I 
did it of my own accord. My object in writing 
this chapter is, to relieve my readers of this diffi- 
culty. And yet, it is possible that I shall not be 
able to make it any plainer to them. 

The Scriptures use a great many different terms 
to express the same thing. It is very common, in 



AYHAT THE HEAIIT IS. 71 

the instructions that are given to children, to tell 
them that they must have -a new heart. But it is 
only one way of expressing the same thing that is 
meant when we speak of becoming Christians, It 
is the same thing, also, as to say that we must he 
born again^ and become neio creatures. The Lord, 
spealdng by the propliet Ezekiel, of gospel times, 
says, " A new heart also will I give you, and a new 
spirit will I put within you ; and I will take away 
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give 
you a heart of flesh." This is figurative language^ 
by which one thing is described by another that 
is like it. The heart is the seat of life. The life is 
in the blood. So says the Bible. If the blood 
were to stand still in our veins, we should die. 
The heart, every time it beats, being j^ressed to- 
gether, sends the blood out through the arteries, 
all over the body. The veins take it from the 
arteries, and carry it back again; and by passing 
through the lungs, it is purified by the air we 
breathe, and, in its course, also renewed by the nu- 
triment received from food. Thus the heart keeps 
the living current in motion continually. It is the 
controlling power of animal life, When the word 



i^ WHY WE NEED A NEW HEART. 

heart is used in religion, it means the faculty, or 
power, that does the same for the soul that the 
heart does for the body. It is the controlling 
power of spiritual life. It is that which loves and 
hates^ chooses and refuses. 

And why do we need a new heart? Because 
our hearts are by nature evil, loving and choosing 
the bad, and hating and refusing the good. The 
word of God says, " The imagination of man's heart 
is QYil from his youth^'^ (Gen. 8 : 21). And Christ 
says that all that is evil and wicked comes out of 
the heart (Matt. 15 : 19). This is the reason why 
every one is naturally inclined to do evil, and why 
children, as soon as they begin to act, always do 
wrong. 

Do you say, "If I have a bad heart, how can I 
help doing wrong? and how can I be to blame for 
it ? " — I can only say, that when you do wrong, 
you hioio that yon are to blame ; and you know 
that, if you had a mind to do right, it would be 
just as easy to do right as to do wrong. You 
know that you are to blame for being disposed to 
do wrong. You do not need to have it jDroved. 
If one of your companions should strike you, and 



A BAD HEART NO EXCUSE. 73 

tlien excuse himself by saying that it was his bad 
heart that made him do it, you would not take 
that as an excuse. You would say it was he that 
did it ; and if his bad heart led him to do it, it only 
made him so much the more hateful. The reason 
that you do not do what you ought, is, that you do 
not wish to do it ; and for this you know you are 
to blame. A little boy was corrected by his father 
seven times, before he would obey, and do a very 
little thing which he was bidden to do. Every 
time his father would ask him, "Will you do it, 
my son ? " — " Yes, sir," he would answer. " Well, 
then, why do you not do it ? " — "I don't want to," 
was his reply. This shows the state of the heart 
while one is living in sin. If any one does wrong, 
it is hecaiise he does not vnsli to do right. It is 
your duty to do just what you would do if you had 
a new heart. This will explain what may seem to 
be a contradiction. In the passage I have quoted 
from Ezekiel, God says, "-4 neio heart loill I give 
youP But, in the eighteenth chapter of the same 
book, he says, " Repent, and turn yourselves from 
all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be 
your ruin. Cast away from you all your trans- 



74 GOD WORKS IN US. 

gressions, whereby ye have transgressed ; and make 
you a new heart and a 7iew spirit^ Here he com- 
niands %ts to do the very thing which, in the other 
passage, he j^romises to do for us ; and he speaks 
to us as though we were able to do so if we would. 
In the second chapter of Philippians, Paul says, 
"Vfork out your own salvation with fear and 
trembling ; for it is God that worketh in you, 
both to will and to do, of his good pleasure." 
Whenever you are awakened to any serious con- 
cern about your soul, it is God working in you^ to 
give you such feelings. Whenever you feel any 
desire to be good, or to do good, that desire comes 
from the Spirit of God ; and if ever you have a 
new heart, the first you will know of it will be, 
that you will find yourself feeling and acting right, 
as you ought to do. Instead of waiting, then, for 
a new heart, you should endeavor to feel and act 
just as a Christian ought to do ; and then you will 
be working with the Holy Spirit. As I said be- 
fore, any movement in your heart to obey God's 
commands, or to repent and believe in Christ, 
comes from the Holy Spirit ; and if you refuse to 
obey, you resist the Holy Spirit. And as long as 



A NEW HEART TO BE PRAYED FOR. iO 

you continue to do evil, and refuse to yield to the 
Holy Si^irit when he strives with you, you will not 
have a new heart. In the passage I have quoted, 
God promises to give his j^eople a new heart ; and, 
after adding several other promises, he says, " Yet 
for all this, I will be inquired of by the house of 
Israel, to do it for them." Inquiring of God is 
praying to him ; and this shows that it is right to 
pray for a new heart. So Christ says, our heav- 
enly Father is more willing to give his Holy Spirit 
to them that ask him, than earthly parents are to 
give good gifts to their children. And it is the 
Holy Spirit that renews the heart. But it is 
mockery for us to pray for a disposition to do the 
will of God, unless we try to do the thing that 
we pray God to give us the disposition to do. 
And for any one to wait for a new heart, without 
making any effort to do what he would do if he 
had a new heart, is like a hungry man sitting down 
to a table spread with good food, and waiting for 
a disposition to eat. 

There is nothing that can be named that is so 
desirable for a child as a new heart. Ton want to 
start right, A heart that disposes you to do right, 



76 STARTING RIGHT. 

to choose the good and refuse the evil, is the only 
thing that will give you a right start. While the 
heart is wrong, everything is wrong. And nothing 
that you do is pleasing to God, while your heart is 
wrong. And, if you Avant to be happy, a new 
heart is the only thing that will make you so. The 
child that is disobedient, unamiable, cross, and 
quarrelsome, is never happy ; while the obedient, 
amiable, and well-behaved, always seem to enjoy 
themselves. And this is just what a new heart 
wdll make you. There is a pleasure in doing right, 
while you never do wrong but you feel badly. 
The child is happy to know that his j^arents love 
him and approve his conduct ; but to lie under 
their frown and displeasure, makes him unhappy. 
If you have a new heart, and feel and act aright, 
God, your heavenly Father, will love you, and 
smile upon you, and show you his favor. That will 
make you happy indeed. A new heart will fit you 
for all the duties of this life, and for the enjoyment 
of all its blessings and privileges. It will fit you 
to be useful ; and to be useful is to be happy, for 
" it is more blessed to give than to receive." It will 
fit you for heaven. You feel happy in the com- 



THE GOOD ARE HAPPY. 77 

l)any of good children. In heaven you will have 
no company but the good. There will be a great 
company of good children there, and they will love 
one another. There will be all the good people of 
whom we read in the Bible. There will be the 
holy angels. There will be Jesus in his glorified 
body ; and there you may see God, face to face. 
But you cannot go there without a new heart ; 
for Christ says, " Except a man be born again, he 
cannot see the kingdom of God." 



CHAPTER VIII. 



PIETY IN CHILDHOOD. 



Some people have strange ideas about the effect 
of piety upon children. If a child professes to love 
the Saviour, they look for all the ripeness and ma- 
turity of age. And children seem to think that, if 
they become pious, they must suppress all the 
buoyancy of their spirits, and become grave, de- 
mure, and precise, — in fact, must renounce their 
childhood. It is true that piety will make a great 
change in children. But there are some things it 
will not do. It will not make them men and 
women. It will not give them all the thoughtful- 
ness and gravity of age. It will not change any- 
thing in their natures that is innocent. It will not 
destroy the natural sprightliness and vivacity, nor 
even the playfulness of childhood. It will not 
change the slender twig, that moves with the 



CHILDHOOD SANCTIFIED. 79 

slightest breath of wind, into the stern, unbending 
tree ; but it will take childhood just as it is, in its 
naturalness and simplicity, and life and vivacity, 
and chasten and subdue, sanctify and sweeten it. 
It will not take the child out of the little world in 
which he moves, and give him scope of mind to 
grasp all the great thoughts that occupy the atten- 
tion and move the feelings of mature and cultivated 
minds ; but it will take him in this little world, 
where his childish mind moves, and give him new 
motives, and new feelings towards all the objects 
that surround him. It will give him a present God, 
in this little world of his. It will make him hum- 
ble, thinking little of himself. It will make him 
unselfish and generous. It will make him affable, 
kind, courteous, and gentle. And, if he does 
wrong, instead of braving it out, he will confess 
his fault, and seek to rectify it. It will make him 
more obedient to his parents, more loving to his 
brothers and sisters, more affable and kind to his 
companions, and more subdued in all his be- 
havior. His piety will show itself constantly in 
little things, — in tenderness of heart, in a spirit 
of devotions in love for the Bible, and religious 



80 THE LITTLE PHARISEE. 

books, and religious j)eople; in love for prayer, and 
all sacred things. 

But if you see a child, professing to be religious, 
putting on a sanctimonious air, aping the gravity 
and preciseness of age, setting up for a prodigy, 
and affecting to sup]3ress everything in his child- 
ish nature, you may set him down as a little Phari- 
see, If you watch him, you will see that, instead of 
cultivating those lovely dispositions which go to 
make uj) the charm of Christian character at every 
age, he is constantly feeding a self-righteous, vain 
spirit. He is forward. He would be seen. He is 
possessed with the idea that he is a remarkable 
child. This idea he carries out everywhere. And 
not unfrequently his friends are injudicious enough 
to help it on, by speaking of him to others, in his 
presence, as a wonderful child; and putting him 
forward and bringing him into notice. But such a 
course cannot fail to injure a child, even where 
there is piety, and much more where there is only 
self-deception. Such a disposition may possibly be 
found where there is some piety ; but it will be like 
a toadstool on a pear-tree. 

On the other hand, there is sometimes a dis- 



CHILDREN NOT TO BE DISCOURAGED. 81 

position on the part of parents and cliurcli officers 
to treat professions of piety in children with such 
chilling incredulity as to dishearten and discour- 
age them. Instead of cherishing the tender bud- 
dings of i^iety, which manifest themselves in child- 
ish forms and childish expressions, as they natu- 
rally should do, they apply to them the severest 
tests of mature Christian growth. And while 
they would admit to the church an adult person, 
on his simple declaration that he trusts he has 
repented and believed in Christ, they expect a 
child to be able to describe the whole process of 
the work of grace in his soul. 

These remarks may be regarded as out of place 
in a book for children. But I have made them 
for the purpose of cautioning children not to be 
discouraged if they meet with rebuffs of this kind. 
If you are a true Christian, you will neither be 
discouraged nor offended. God knows your heart. 
Jesus knows if you love him. If you are only put 
off a few months, before you are allowed to unite 
with the church, quietly and submissively yield 
to it. It is better for you to wait long enough 
to know that vour relicrious feelin!2:s are not a 



82 PUBLIC PROFESSION. 

mere momentary excitement. I have known 
young people to imite with the church in large 
numbers, under the influence of a sympathetic 
excitement, and in a little time become as careless 
as ever. On the other hand, I have known a 
company of children and youth, kept for months 
under the instruction of their pastor, to prepare 
them for making a public profession, all of whom, 
so far as I know, have held out, and made stable, 
consistent Christians. But I have known others 
injured, by objections being made to their uniting 
with the church, which gave rise to doubts of the 
reality of their piety, in their own minds, and 
brought them into a discouraged, desponding state. 
One little girl, when she was eight years of age, 
thought she loved the Saviour, and presented 
herself before the officers of the church, saying 
that she desired to obey his command, and par- 
take of the Lord's Supper. They thought she 
was too young, and put her off. And some people 
said that she was childish, and not serious and 
stable enough to show that she had any true 
piety. Yet she persevered, and continued to pre- 
sent herself before the church for eight years ; 



SYMPATHY OF JESUS. 83 

and then she was received. If this meets the 
eye of any child who thinks he loves the Saviour, 
but who finds any such discouragements in his 
way, I hope he will receive all with meekness 
and submission, but remember that Jesus said, 
" Suffer the little children to come unto me, and 
forbid them not." Wait j^atiently. Cling to the 
blessed Saviour, and he will not forsake you. 
Remember that he is a sympathizing High-priest, 
that he has been a child, that he knows your 
feelings, and will be interested in everything, how- 
ever small, that affects your heart. We are very 
apt to forget how we felt when we were children, 
and so to lose our sympathy with them. But 
Jesus never forgets. He was a child like your- 
self, except that he was without sin, and he can 
sympathize with you. And though what troubles 
you may be too insignificant to attract the atten- 
tion of grown people now, it is not too little for 
his regard, if it affects you. He can enter into 
all your trials. Go and tell him all your feelings 
and all your difficulties. But, then, be careful 
that you do nothing contrary to this. Be so 
humble, conscientious, obedient, and circumspect, 



84 BE CONSISTENT. 

as to show to every one that you have a new prin- 
ciple of divine life in your heart, guiding all your 
conduct; and in due time you will remove the 
fears of those who have seemed to repulse you. 



CHAPTER IX. 

DEVOTION. 

The pious m all ages have been known as pray- 
ing people — those who call upon God. When 
the Lord appeared to Ananias, to inform him of 
the great change that had taken place in Saul 
of Tarsus, he said, "Behold, he prayeth." The 
Christian Indians are distinguished from the pa- 
gans, as praying Indians, And the first thing 
you will notice in a child that is beginning to 
seek the Lord, is, that he prays. He may have 
said his prayers before; but now he prays. A 
pious child will love to pray. A child who loves 
his father and mother will love to talk with them ; 
— and praying is talking loith our heavenly 
Father. If we love God as our Father^ we shall 
love to pray to him. In the Lord's Prayer, Christ 
teaches us to address our prayers to " Our Father, 

who art in heaven." We are to come to him as a 

8 



86 OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN. 

child to a father, because the relation of a creature 
to his Creator is like that of a child to a parent ; 
and he instructs vis to say oicr Father, that we 
maj understand that we are all children of one Fa- 
ther, and bound to regard each other as brethren. 
But, if our Father is in heaven, how can he 
hear us, so far oiF in this lower world ? In the 
sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah he says, '' The heaven 
is my throne, and the earth is my footstool." In 
the days when the Bible was written, the king sat 
on a lofty throne, above the people, with a stool 
for his feet to rest upon. When the people came to 
ask anything of him, they kneeled before his foot- 
stool. So, if the heaven is God's throne, and the 
earth is his footstool, he can hear those who kneel 
at his footstool as well as if they were on his throne. 
Again, he says, in the JBfty-seventh chapter of 
Isaiah, " Thus saith the high and lofty One, that 
inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy : I dwell 
in the high and holy place, with him also that 
is of an humble and contrite spirit." If God 
dwells with us, as well as in heaven, he can hear 
our i^rayers. So Christ tells us to pray to our 
Father who is m 56cr6^,and "thy Father who seeth in 



GOD EVER PRESENT. 87 

secret shall reward thee openly." Thus it aj^pears 
that, although God's throne is in heaven, where 
he displays his glory, and openly receives the 
adoration of angels and glorified spirits, yet he is 
present in every jDlace, as he says himself, " be- 
holding the evil and the good," listening to the 
prayers of his creatures, and exerting his jDOW^er 
to preserve, protect, and bless his people, and to 
punish and destroy his enemies. He is j^resent 
in heaven in such a way that the glorified inhab- 
itants of that blessed j)lace see his face, and live 
in the sunshine of his presence. He is present 
here and everywhere, but invisible. His presence 
and power ^yq felt^ but not seen. 

The relation which God holds to us is like that 
of an earthly father to his children. We owe 
our existence to him. It is he that protects us 
and 23rovides for us. Everything we have comes 
from his bountiful hand, even when we work for 
it; for it is he that gives jDOwer to labor, and 
crowns our labor with success. Man tills the 
earth, but i't is God's sun and God's rain which 
make the earth fruitful to supply us with food. 
With the tender care of a Father, he watches over 



bb SINNERS AFRAID OF GOD. 

US and provides for us. When we love him, he 
loves us, and gives us his approving smile; and 
we go to him, as a child to a father, with rever- 
ence indeed, but not with slavish fear and dread. 
But, however kind and loving a father may be, 
a disobedient child is set against him. He does 
not wish to see him or be with him, but to get 
out of his sight as quickly as possible. And 
so sinners feel toward their heavenly Father. 
Though receiving from his free bounty every day, 
they feel hard towards him. They are afraid of 
him, because they know he has cause to be angry 
with them. They feel guilty, and wish to get 
away from him, as Adam and Eve did, when they 
had eaten the forbidden fruit. But, if we go to 
him Avith an humble, penitent heart, in the name 
of Jesus, he will pardon our sins, and receive us 
freely, as his own dear children. He invites us to 
come to him. Christ says, " Ask and ye shall ]-e- 
ceive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall 
be opened unto you." And he assures us that 
our heavenly Father is more willing to give good 
things to them that ask him, than earthly parents 
are to give good gifts unto their children. 



WHAT TO PRAY FOR. 89 

But, when Christ says, "Ask and ye shall re- 
ceive," does he mean that God will give us any- 
tliing that we may ask for, either good or bad ? 
No ; if you were to pray God to bring evil upon 
some one you wish to injure, God would not 
answer such a prayer. It would be wicked for 
you to make it. And you may ask for things that 
are not bad in themselves, which God may see it 
would not be best for you to have. lie does not 
promise to give you such things for asking, but 
only good things — such as are good in them- 
selves, and good for you. In the eleventh chap- 
ter of Luke, where these words are repeated, in- 
stead of saying he will give us good things^ he 
says he will give his Holy l^nrit to them that ask 
him. And the Holy Spirit is the author of all 
our blessings. It is he who renews our hearts, 
who gives us true repentance, who works faith in 
us, who purifies us from sin and makes us holy. 
When you ask for the Holy SiDirit, you ask for all 
spiritual blessings, for all good gifts and graces, 
for all that you need to j^urify you from sin, and 
fit you for heaven. But he allows us also to ask 

for the things that we need in this life. Christ 

8* 



90 A LITTLE girl's PRA.YER. 

directs us to pray, "Give us tliis day our daily 
bread." This teaches us our daily dependence 
upon him for what we need ; for, though we may 
labor for our daily bread, it is only by God's bless- 
ing that we obtain it. But nothing, that we may 
rightly desire, is too small to jDray for. A poor 
little girl was sent by her mother with half a dol- 
lar (perhaps all the money they had), to buy some 
food, and on the way she dropped it in the street. 
A lady who passed, saw her crying as if she would 
break her heart. Learning the cause, she stopped 
to helj) her look for her money. But neither of 
them could find it. Feeling her helplessness, the 
little girl lifted up her hands, and cried, " O God ! 
help me to find it ! " And then she looked down, 
and saw it lying on the pavement at her feet. 
There was no miracle in this ; but there is noth- 
ing inconsistent with reason or Scripture in be- 
lieving that the Lord directed the little girl's 
attention to the spot where the money was. Nor 
was this too frivolous a matter to engage the 
attention of the great God. The loss of her half- 
dollar w^as as great a matter to her, as the loss of 
David's kingdom was to him, when he fled from 



ASKING AMISS. 91 

his son Absalom. And God cares for what con- 
cerns his little ones, according as they are affected 
by it. It is not certain, however, that he will 
always give us the temporal blessings that Ave ask 
for, because he may not see that it is best for us 
to have them. Yet he will hear our prayer, and 
bless our souls, if he does not give us the very 
thing we ask for. Paul prayed that God would 
remove from him a trial, which he called " a thorn 
in the flesh ; " but, instead of granting his request, 
the Lord answered him, " My grace is sufficient 
for thee." Instead of taking it away, he gave 
him grace to bear it. 

But we may ash amiss^ and so not receive. 
The apostle James says : " Ye ask and receive not, 
that ye may consume it upon your lusts," or pleas- 
ures. It is possible that you may ask for the 
very "good things" of which Christ speaks, for 
such a selfish purpose. Simon Magus sought the 
gift of the Holy Ghost that he might make money 
by it. If you seek spiritual blessings in order to 
gratify your pride and vanity, by being esteemed 
very pious, then you "ask amiss, that you may 
consume it upon your lusts." And so, if you pray 



92 HOW TO ASK. 

for spiritual blessings, and yet continue in sin, you 
ask amiss ; for God says, " He that turneth away 
his ear from the hearing of the law, even his 
prayer shall be abomination." And so, I may say, 
if you pray, thinking to merit God's favor by your 
prayers, or by that means to bring him under obli- 
gation to you, that would be asking amiss ; for 
there is no more merit in our prayers than there is 
in the cry of a beggar in the street, who asks for 
something to relieve his distress. 

But, how must loe ask^ in order to receive ac- 
cording to the promise ? In the first place, we 
must have faith in God^ as the hearer of prayer, 
" He that cometh to God," says Paul, " must be- 
lieve that he is, and that he is the rewarder of 
them that diligently seek him." How can you 
pray to God, if you do not believe in him ? And 
how can you ask anything of him, if you do not 
believe that he hears and answers prayer ? A j^er- 
son called to see a poor woman Avho was sick and 
destitute. Her little girl came out of another room 
and inquired, "Mother, hasn't anything come 
yet ? " She had been praying for food for her poor 
sick mother, and she expected that God would send 



A LITTLE GIKL'S PRAYER AXSAYERED. 93 

it. She went back again to her closet, and in a few 
minutes a person called and brought a supply. 
This was faith. Here is a promise for the people 
of God in such a case : " Trust in the Lord, and 
do good ; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and 
verily thou shalt he fed,'''' She believed God's 
promise, and he heard her jDrayer. 

We must also feel our need of the things ice ask 
for. The Pharisee who went up into the temple 
to pray, had no sense of need. He had nothing to 
ask, and nothing to say, but to thank God that he 
was so much better than other men. But the 
Piiblican felt his need, and could say nothing, but 
to cry out, " God be merciful to me a sinner." But 
his prayer was acceptable to God, while that of the 
Pharisee was offensive to him. 

What we ask for must also be earnestly desired. 
If you go to your father and ask him, in a careless 
way, to give you something, as though you did not 
care whether you receive it or not, you can hardly 
expect that he will give it to you. But if he sees 
that you are in earnest, and that your heart is set 
upon it, he will be inclined to give it to you. The 
apostle James says it is the fervent prayer that is 



94 ASK IN THE NAME OF JESUS. 

effectual with God; and fervent means ardent, 
warm, earnest, animated. If you expect God's 
blessing, you must be in earnest seeking it. 

You must also have a sense of your xmioorthi' 
ness. We do not deserve anything of God. The 
prophet Jeremiah says : " It is of the Lord's mer- 
cies that we are not consumed," because we are 
sinners in his sight. Christ tells us, if we had 
obeyed all God's commandments, we might still 
say, "We are unprofitable servants," because we 
have only done our duty. 

We must ask everything in the name of Jesus. 
" If ye shall ask anything," he says, " in my name^ 
I will do it." And Paul says that it is through 
Jesus that we have access to the Father. He has 
ascended up on high, and received gifts for men ; 
and now he sits on the right hand of power and 
glory, to intercede for those who come to God by 
him. We are sinners, and we cannot come before 
the holy God in our own name. But God is " well 
pleased for his righteousness' sake ; " and if we 
come in his name, he will hear us. 

We must likewise persevere in prayer. We 
must continue to pray till God gives us what we 



PERSEVERE IX PRAYER. 95 

Msk for. Sometimes he delays giving us what Ave 
ask for, to try us, and see whether we desire it 
enough to keep on asking ; or whether our faith in 
him as the hearer of prayer is strong enough to 
lead us to hold on. Christ has given us examples 
of this. In a parable, he says. There was in a city 
a judge Avho feared not God, neither regarded man ; 
to him came a poor widow, day by day,, and be- 
sought him to do her justice against a mcked 
man, who oppressed her : and because of her im- 
portunity, he granted her request. And how much 
more, he says, will God hear the prayers of his 
children whom he loves, when they cry day and 
night to him. And when a Gentile woman came 
to Jesus, and besought him to heal her daughter, 
he first put her off, telling her that he was only 
sent to the children of Israel. The Jews used to 
call the Gentiles dogs; and so Jesus said, "Is it 
meet to take the children's bread and cast it to 
the dogs ? " But she was so earnest to have her 
daughter cured of her disease, that she w^as willing 
to take the lowest place ; and she replied, " Truth, 
Lord ; yet the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from 



96 ^ SEEK AS WELL AS ASK. 

their master's table." And when he saw that her 
faith was sufficiently tried, he granted her request. 
But we must seeh as well as ash. If we are sin- 
cere in our prayers, we shall try to do what we ask 
for God's grace to help us do. I will suppose a 
case. A man goes and lays a log across the rail- 
road, where he knows the cars are coming, with 
hundreds of joeople on board, whose lives will be 
in danger unless the log is taken away. He goes 
away, and begins to think of Avhat he has done. 
He feels very sorry that so many people are likely 
to lose their lives ; and he goes away and prays 
earnestly that God would save them. You per- 
ceive at once that the man is not sincere. If he 
desired what he asked, he would go, first of all, aud 
remove the los:. Then he niio;ht ask God to for- 
give him for what he had[ done. So, if you ask 
God to give you repentance, and at the same time 
go on in sin, you will show that you do not truly 
desire repentance. Or, if you ask God to give you 
a taew 'heai't, and yet go on to love and delight in 
those tilings tliat a new heart hates, this will show 
that you do not sincerely wish to have a new heart. 
If you pray that you may find Jesus precious to 



PROMISES. 97 

your soul, and yet do not seek after him with your 
whole heart, this also shows that you are not 
sincere. If you pray aright, you will seek to do 
the very things that you ask God to help you 
do. 

We are encouraged to ask, by the promise that 
we shall receive. " Ask and ye shall receive, seek 
and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened 
unto you; for every one that asketh receiveth, 
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that 
knocketh it shall be opened." This promise is 
repeated, in a great many different ways, and in 
different parts of God's word. If a very rich man 
should promise to give you whatever you ask of 
him, you would think it a great privilege ; and 
you would immediately begin to think over your 
wants, and study what you should ask. But the 
great God, who says, " The silver and the gold are 
mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills," and 
who has kingdoms and crowns of glory to dispose 
of, has promised to give you the richest of heav- 
en's blessings, even his Holy Spirit, if you will 
only ask him. 

And, to show his sincerity, he appeals to the 



98 GOD IS KIND. 

feelings of a kind father towards a beloved child, 
and inquires whether an earthly father would 
mock his hungry child with a stone, when he 
asked for bread; or a serjDent for a iish, or a scor- 
pion to sting him to death, when he asked for an 
Qgg. And then he argues that, if an earthly 
parent, who is imperfect and sinful, would be 
disposed to give good gifts to his children, how 
much more will God, who is perfect and all-gra- 
cious, give good things to them that ask him? 
God has the feelings of a father. "Like as a 
father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth 
them that fear him, for he knoweth our frame, 
he remembereth that we are dust." You need 
not fear to ask him for any good thing of which, 
you feel your need, however small or how^ever 
great it may be. " He giveth to all men liberally, 
and npbraideth not." Though you are weak, igno- 
rant, and sinful, he will not reproach you, nor 
chide you for what is past; but he will receive 
you kindly as a child. He teaches us to say, " Our 
Father." Jesus Christ also feels for you. He is 
" touched with the feeling of our infirmities." He 
knows all your feelings, temptations, and trials. 



XO FORMS NEEDED. 99 

Though you have been very ungrateful in not 
coming to him before, he will not reproach you 
for what you have done, if you turn to him now ; 
for he is " pitiful, and of tender mercy." And we 
are allowed to come boldly to the throne of grace, 
through his name, being assured that we shall 
"find grace to help in time of need." 

You need not be afraid to pray, from the fear 
that you Avill not be able to offer a suitable form 
of words. God appeals to you, as a tender father 
to his children ; and, though you have forfeited 
his favor by your sins, yet that favor may be re- 
stored through Jesus Christ. If you come to 
your heavenly Father in his name, he will listen 
kindly to your petitions, and give you the good 
things you ask for. Prayer is the offering up of 
our desires to God. If you have desires, you do 
not want a form of words to express them. You 
do not think of going to your father or mother, 
when you want anything, and repeating a set form 
of words ; you speak right out of your heart, and 
ask for w^hat you want. And this is the way to 
pray to God, only see that you do it with suitable 
reverence. He has given you a pattern in the 



100 SPEAK FKEELY TO GOD. 

" Lord's Prayer," which teaches what you may 
pray for agreeable to his will ; and you may speak 
to him of your own feelings and desires, with the 
same freedom that you would use in speaking to 
your father or mother. As he knows your desires, 
it is no more difficult for you to speak of them 
to him than it is to speak to your earthly parents. 
As he pities you " like as a father pities his chil- 
dren," he will not be less willing than they to 
make allowance for your want of ability. If you 
earnestly desire anything of him, you will not be 
wanting in words to ask him for it. 

Now, since God is so willing to hear and answer 
our prayers, they must be very wicked and un- 
grateful who neglect to iprdLj to him. What 
would you think of a child, who should rise up in 
the morning, and go about the house all day, and 
never speak to his father and mother? Would 
you think he had any love for his parents ? Con- 
sider what your parents have done for you. They 
have watched over you, and taken care of you, 
and provided for you, from your infancy. How 
ungrateful it would be for you to treat them so! 
But God has done more for you than they have. 



god's goodness. 101 

He has created you. He has given you your 

parents, and all the blessings that come to you 

through them. He has given you everything you 

ever had. But, above all, he has given his beloved 

Son to die for you in order to save you from 

your sins. And how ungrateful it must be for 

you not to speak to him. When you lie down 

at night, he watches by your bedside, and takes 

care of you. In the morning, his sun shines 

upon you. It is his air that you breathe ; and he 

sends the life-blood through all your veins. You 

live daily on his bounty. And do you ever thank 

him ? Think how God regards those who do not 

pray to him. He calls them " workers of iniquity." 

" Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, 

who . . . call not upon thy nanief'^ To call on 

the name" of the Lord, is set down in the holy 

Scriptures as a sign of God's people ; to call not 

upon his name, is a sign of the wicked. 

If you have a friend who has shown you great 

kindness, and who is entitled to your respect and 

love, you cannot offend him more than to forget 

him, and refuse to speak to him. But no friend 

has done for you what God has done. No one 

9* 



102 FORGETFULNESS OF GOD. 

could do it, if he were so disposed ; and no one 
could have such tender kindness for you, or bear 
so long with you. Yet he says, "Now, consider 
this, ye that forget God^ lest I tear you in pieces, 
and there be none to deliver ! " This is the lan- 
guage of him who proclaimed himself to Moses 
" The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, 
slow to anger, and great in kindness." But he 
adds, also, " and that will by no means clear the 
guilty." God is justly offended with them that 
refuse to pray to him. And what can they expect 
of him, after all the invitations of his love, who 
still have not regard enough for him to speak to 
him day by day? 



CHAPTER X. 



GROWTH. 



As I have said before, people talk of ^^getting 
religion^'' as though it were a thing to be got all 
at once, and kept, like a treasure in a box. And 
then they speak of losing^ if not the whole, at 
least some of it, and wishing they felt as they did 
at first. But religion is a 7ieio life; and every 
living thing groios^ instead of becoming less. The 
comparisons used in the Bible to describe it, show 
that this is true of religion. 

Its beginning is called bei7ig horn, " Except a 
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
God." Young Christians are called new-born 
babes, who are exjDccted to groio. " As new-born 
babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye 
may groio thereby." Now, the infant is very small 
and feeble at first, and he grows gradually, till he 
becomes a child, then a youth, then a man. But 
you cannot see his growth from day to day. Yet, 



104 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN. 

if you do not see him for some months, you will 
perceive that he has grown. Just so with the 
young Christian. At first the new life in him is 
like the infant, weak, and requiring constant care ; 
and you cannot perceive its growth from day to 
day. It is gradual, like that of the child. And 
the new life grows in us, just as the child grows, 
by niirtitre and exercise. The child is fed on food 
suitable for it ; and then it exercises its limbs and 
its faculties, and so gets strength. If a child did 
not use its limbs, it would never have strength to 
walk. In attempting to go alone, he falls and 
hurts himself; but this gives him experience, and 
he learns to avoid the danger in future. The 
apostle bids young Christians desire the sincere 
milk of the word, that they may grow thereby. 
The simple truths of God's word, are the nutri- 
ment for babes in Christ. On this they are to 
feed, and to exercise themselves in the practice of 
what it teaches. And in this way they will get 
strength. Sometimes, in making these attempts, 
they stumble and fall. But, though this may be 
painful, yet the experience they gain by it will 
give them new strength. 



PRINCIPLE OF GROWTH. 105 

The Christian life is also compared to the 
growth of a plant. The seed sown is the loord 
of God, When it takes effect on the heart, it 
springs uj) like a seed in the ground: "first the 
blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the 
ear." When a seed is sown in the ground, it 
must have moisture and heat, or it will not grow. 
If the ground is damp and cold, and there is no 
sunshine, it will rot in the ground. If the sun 
shines hot, and there is no rain or moisture, it 
will dry up, and never sprout. But when there is 
both rain and sunshine, the seed swells, and there 
is a princii^le in it that has the power of attract- 
ing to itself from the earth just those substances 
that it requires for growth. And, being fed by 
these, it shoots up, and produces first a fresh, 
thrifty stalk, then an ear, and then the full corn 
in the ear; and when the fruit is ripe, the stalk 
becomes dry, and withers away, and the com is 
gathered. The word of God, received into the 
heart, is the seed. The Holy Spirit gives both 
light and heat. The seed springs up fresh and 
green, but weak, like the slender stalk ; but as it 
grows, it acquires vigor and strength. Then the 



106 USES OF THE PALM-TKEE. 

fruit begins to appear ; and when it is fully ripe, 
God gathers it into his garner. This growth is 
not sudden, like the mushroom, which springs up 
in a night, and withers before the morning sun ; 
but it is like the growth of a plant, gradual and 
steady. 

The Christian life is also compared to the palm- 
tree and the cedar. The ^aim-tree flourishes, 
w^ith a steady growth, to a great age, lifting its 
tall, straight trunk towards heaven, and bringing 
forth fruit every year. It is one of the most use- 
ful trees in the world. It is celebrated, in prose 
and verse, for its three hundred and sixty uses. 
From the leaves they make couches, baskets, bags, 
mats, and brushes; from the branches, cages for 
fowls, and fences for their gardens ; from the fibres 
of the boughs, thread, ropes, and rigging; the 
body furnishes fuel; of the sap, sugar is made; and 
the fruit furnishes food. Here is a steady, upward 
growth, and constant usefulness, which describes 
the Christian's life from beginning to end. But, 
besides this, other trees spring up from its spread- 
ing roots, and form a grove, which furnishes a 
delightful shade for the weary traveller. So the 



god's promises. 107 

Christian, by the influence which he exerts on 
those around him, will soon be surrounded by 
those whom he has been the means of leading to 
Christ. "The righteous shall flourish like the 
palm-tree ; he shall grow like the cedar of Leba- 
non." The cedar is an evergreen^ stretching up its 
lofty trunk, ever increasing in size and beauty, till 
its top is lost in the clouds that crown the beautiful 
summit of Mount Lebanon. Jeremiah says, the 
man that trusts in the Lord "shall be as a tree 
planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her 
roots by the river, and shall not see when heat 
Cometh, but her leaf shall he greenP In eastern 
countries, where the rain falls at particular seasons 
of the year, followed by long seasons of drought, 
in the dry season almost every green thing disaj)- 
pears. But the tree that is planted by the side of 
the river, strikes its roots deep, down to the water, 
and gathers moisture and nourishment, so that its 
leaf is alicays green. And this is what is expected 
of the people of God. 

Christ compares the new life of one that be- 
lieves in him to a living spring, constantly bubbling 
up from deep in the earth. " The water that I 



108 INCONSTANCY OF YOUNG PERSONS. 

shall give him, shall be in him a well of water, 
springing up into everlasting life." I have seen 
some young persons who were deeply exercised 
while there was a general interest on the subject 
of religion ; and they were carried along by the 
excitement, and by sympathy with the feehngs of 
others, and brought into the church. But, after a 
little while, when the excitement was gone, they 
became as gay and thoughtless as ever. Then, 
when general attention was again awakened, they 
would be stirred up, and their feelings deeply ex- 
cited ; but as soon as the excitement abated, their 
seriousness again disappeared. It might be said 
truly of them, as the Lord said to some of his an- 
cient people, "Their goodness is as the morning 
cloud and the early dew : it goeth away." I once 
lived at the foot of a hill, whose surface was 
smooth ; but a little way down, the earth was hard, 
so that the water could not penetrate. In the 
spring-time, after the snow had melted, and while 
the rains continued to fall, you might dig into the 
earth anywhere on the side of the hill, and you 
would find a spring. The water would gush out 
in a stream ; so that, if you had seen it at no other 



THE TWO SPRINGS. 109 

season, you would have thought it a living spring. 
And the water used to run down the hill in bab- 
bling brooks of muddy water. But, as the summer 
came on, the brooks diminished in size, and finally 
disappeared, and the springs themselves dried up. 
This is like the religion I have spoken of, that 
shows itself only in times of general excitement, 
when people are affected by sympathy with each 
other. 

When I was a boy, I lived among the hills of 
Vermont. On my father's jDlace were springs, 
which answered the description given by our SaA^- 
iour in the passage I have quoted. They ran out 
from under the rocks, or bubbled up out of the 
solid earth. They were neither increased by the 
rain, nor diminished by the drought. They had 
their sources so deep in the earth, that they were 
affected by neither. The coldest weather did not 
freeze them, and in the warmest days of sum- 
mer their waters were refreshingly cool ; and the 
streams that flowed from them were steady, limpid, 
and clear. These two kinds of springs represent 
the true and the false in religion. 

Again, the Christian life is represented by the 
10 



110 THE NEW LIFE. 

progress of the rising sun. " The path of the just 
is as the shining light, that shineth more and more 
unto the perfect clay." The first beginning of the 
new life is like the dawn of day, as you look out 
into the east, and behold a gray streak of light 
rising above the horizon. This grows brighter and 
brighter, till the sun breaks out in S23lendor ; and, 
as he rises higher and higher, the light and heat in- 
crease, till he stands over your head and pours 
down the full strength of midday. Clouds may 
occasionally hide him from your view, but he 
shines none the less. And such is the new life. A 
life that does not advance, is no life at all. The 
child that does not grow, Avill pine away and die. 
The plant that does not grow, must wither. A liv- 
ing tree cannot remain stationary. The sun cannot 
stand still at the horizon, where you first perceive 
it, in the early dawn of the morning. 

Do you ask " How 7nay I grow in grace ? " 
In the first place, you must feel your dependence 
upon God. You might try every means to grow 
in bodily stature, and all would be in vain, without 
God's blessing. The apostle Peter says that it is 
" through the Spirit " that our hearts are purified. 



HOW TO GROW IN GRACE. Ill 

And all the Christian graces are called the " fruit 
of the Spirit." " The fruit of the Spirit is love, 
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, 
faith, meekness, temperance." And you need be 
at no loss how you are to have the Holy Spiiit to 
work in you these gracious affections, seeing Christ 
has assured us that the Father is more willing to 
give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him, than 
earthly parents are to give good gifts to their chil- 
dren. And you must cherish his gracious pres- 
ence, and yield to his influence, if you would secure 
his constant aid in this great and difficult work. 

Another thing that you must do, to grow in 
grace, is, to study the icord of God, Truth is the 
instrument which the Spirit of God uses to purify 
our hearts, and increase in us the work of grace. 
Christ prays : " Sanctify them through thy truth ; 
thy word is truth." Peter, in his first epistle, 
writes : " Ye have purified your souls, in obeying 
the truth through the Spirits The Spirit of God 
enables you to obey the truth, and this purifies 
your heart, and gives stability and firmness to your 
Christian character. But, for this, you must un- 
derstand the word of God j and to understand, you 



112 PRAYER A MEANS. 

must Study it. And this word must abide in you. 
You must think of it, enrich your thoughts with 
it, and identify it with your feelings. "Let the 
word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." 
" Thy word have I hid in my lieart^' says David, 
" that I might not sin against thee." The word 
of God in the heart, Avill keep us from sin. You 
must think, also, of Christ, as he is represented in 
God's w^ord. And thus, "beholding as in a glass 
the glory of the Lord," you will be " changed into 
the same image." 

JPrayer is another means of growth in grace. 
It gives power against sin. Speaking with God, 
brings you near to him, strengthens your faith, and 
assists you in holy obedience. Pray much in 
secret between yourself and God alone. Open all 
your heart to him. Tell him all your joys and 
sorrows, all your trials and wants ; and carry with 
you all the time a spirit of prayer. In everything 
you do, pray in your heart, as Nehemiah did when 
lie went in before the king. In old times, they 
worshipped God by offering burnt offerings at 
stated times every day; but, besides this, they 
were required not to let the fire go out on their 



WATCH AND PRAY. 113 

altars, night or clay. So, though you pray at stated 
times every day, keep the fire of devotion burning 
in your hearts continually. Unite with others in 
prayer. If you have companions who love prayer, 
induce them to form a praying circle. Their 
prayers and conversation will strengthen and help 
you. And God Avill bless you in it ; for it is writ- 
ten in Malaehi: "Then they that feared the Lord 
spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened 
and heard it, and a book of remembrance was 
written before him for them that feared the Lord, 
and that thought upon his name ; and they shall be 
mine, saith the Lord, in that day when I make up 
my jewels." How precious to be reckoned of the 
Lord among his jewels ! But be cautious, in these 
social devotions, that you do not seek to display 
yourself, and make it the occasion of spiritual 
pride. 

And then, you must watch as well as pray. 
Christ says to his disciples : " Watch and pray, that 
ye enter not into temptation ; and what I say unto 
you, I say unto all, watch." Keep a close watch 
over your heart, your thoughts, and your conduct, 
10* 



114 SELF-DENIAL COMMANDED. 

that you indulge no feelings, think no thoughts, 
and do no acts, that will grieve the Holy Spirit. 
Again, you must deny yourself^ wherever self-grat- 
ification would lead you astray. " If any man will 
come after me," says Christ, " let him deny himself, 
and take up his cross, and follow me." Self-indul- 
gence is the natural foe to all improvement. It 
always pleads for gratification. And the evil dis- 
positions of our hearts clamor for exercise. But 
Paul says, " They that are Christ's have crucified 
the flesh, with its afifections and lusts." The de- 
nial of these sinful inclinations is a kind of cruci- 
fixion, a lingering death. But they must be sub- 
dued, or we can make no progress in the new life. 
But, most of all, you must deny your own imll. 
There is no point in which self shows itself so 
strong as in the loill. It is in this that opposition 
to God shows itself, just as opposition to the au- 
thority of the parent shows itself in the child. He 
sets up his will against the w^ill of his parents, not 
so much on account of the thing desired, as to 
have his own way. Paul, in his epistle to Timo- 
thy, in describing wicked men who shall come in 
the last days, says, among other things, that they 



SIN UNFORGIVEN. 115 

shall be " heady." This is the same that we call 
being "headstrong." It is simply a determination 
to have one's own way, for the sake of gratifying 
self^ without regard to consequences. This makes 
a person uneasy and restless under eveiything that 
crosses his will. But as everything is ordered of. 
God, you will perceive that this is rebellion against 
him. Such a disposition must be denied, mortified, 
and subdued. 

Another thing you must do, if you would grow 
in grace, is, not to let sin lie on your conscience. 
Perhaps you may not understand what I mean. 
I will explain. Suppose that, being out of sight of 
your i^arents, you do something that you know 
would displease them, if they knew it. You can- 
not meet them with confidence, and look them full 
in the face. You feel guilty, and ashamed of your- 
yourself. You have lost your self-respect. And 
this state of feeling will continue, and grow worse, 
and widen the distance between yourself and your 
parents, till you confess it, and secure their forgive- 
ness. And so it will be if you sin against God, and 
hide it in your own bosom, instead of going to him 
with the confidence of a child, confessing your sin, 



116 GRACE GROWS, IF EXERCISED. 

and seeking his forgiving mercy through Jesus 
Christ. Your sin will lie on your conscience like a 
burning coal of fire ; and the fire will burn hotter 
and hotter, till the sin is confessed and jDardoned. 
But, while this continues, you cannot grow in grace. 
By suffering sin thus to lie on your conscience, the 
Holy Spirit will be grieved ; and as he is the au- 
thor of all gracious affections, your graces cannot 
grow when he leaves you to yourself 

The last means of growing in grace that I shall 
mention, is, to exercise what you have. Of this I 
have spoken before. If you were to lie down on 
the bed, and do nothing, your hands and arms and 
limbs would soon grow weak, so that you could 
hardly use them. But if you run about, your limbs 
grow strong. If you use your hands and arms at 
work, they gain strength. This is Avhat makes boys 
stronger than girls. They make a more vigorous 
use of their bodies. And this is the reason why 
the farmer's boy is so much stronger than the city 
boy. He works. He uses his strength, and it 
grows. Now, consider the "fruit of the Spirit," 
described Galatians 5 : 22, 23, and you will see how 
every one of the graces there mentioned will grow 



HOAY CHILDREN MAY DO GOOD. 117 

by exercise. If you want your love to Christ to 
grow, you must think of his lovely character, and 
that will call forth your love to him. If you want 
your love of compassion to your fellow-creatures 
to grow, you must try to do them good. This is 
what Christ means when he says, " It is more bles- 
sed to give than to receive." The reason is, that 
what you do for others returns, richly freighted 
with blessings, into your own bosom. Do you ask, 
"What can I, a little child, do for others?"— I 
reply, 3^ou can do a great deal for others. Just for- 
get yourself, and see what you can do to make 
others happy. Anticipate the wishes of your par- 
ents before they make them known to you. Be 
helpful to your equals. Never let slip an oppor- 
tunity to do a kind act to any one. And then you 
will see how this grace of love or benevolence w^ill 
grow. And just so with every other grace. But 
if you love others, you will love their souls more 
than their bodies. And you can seek the salvation 
of the souls of your companions. You can pray 
for them ; you can speak to them, and try to per- 
suade them to come to Jesus. And if you do it in 
a modest, gentle way, not as though you were bet- 



118 HAPPINESS OF THE NEW LIFE. 

ter than tliey, the Lord may make you the means 
of their conversion; and this will strengthen 
your faith and courage. 

Now, if you grow in grace^ you will find tTie 
new life on which you have entered bright and 
cheering. On this dejDends your happiness and 
usefulness. Every new leaf that you turn over in 
your Christian experience will give you new views 
of the heavenly mysteries. The Great Shepherd 
will lead you into pastures fresh and green. But 
if you do not grow in grace, you will be like sheep 
kept all the time in the same pasture, where the 
grass is eaten up, dried, and trodden down. You 
will grow lean, formal, dry, and cold. Your relig- 
ion will be more like a wax figure than a living 
being. 



CHAPTER XI. 



BACKSLIDING. 



Much is said in the Bible about hacTcsUders ; 
and I suppose my readers have heard religious 
people talk about hackdiding. To hear some 
people talkj you would think it a matter of course 
that, after a person is converted^ he must back- 
slide. But, from what I have said in the last 
chapter, you will see that this is not what the 
Bible teaches. Yet, as many do backslide, you 
ought to understand what is meant by it, the dan- 
ger of it, and how to avoid it. In Proverbs 14 : 
14, it is said : " The backslider in heart shall be 
filled with his own ways." The idea is that of 
one climbing up a steep hill, and sliding back. 
And this is made to represent a moral or spir- 
itual idea. The prophet Hosea (Hosea 4:16) 
says, "Israel slideth haclc^ as a backsliding heifer." 
Here the figure employed is that of a cow or 



120 THREE KINDS OF BACKSLIDING. 

an ox attempting to climb up a steep and slip- 
pery place, and losing foothold, and sliding back ; 
or, as you may perhaps have seen a horse, attached 
to a carriage, run backward down a steep hill. 
And you perceive how dangerous it is. When 
applied to religion, hacJcslicUng means turning 
hack from seeking God, Christ warns us before- 
hand against setting out in the Christian life so 
irresolutely as to want to turn back. "No man 
having put his hand to the plough, and looking 
back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Pie would 
have us well consider the matter, and not set out 
in this way, unless we are determined to keep on 
a steady course in it. 

There are three kinds of backsliding. The first 
is backsliding from awakening and conviction. 
We have several examples of this in Scripture. 
Herod heard John the Baptist, and "did many 
thi^igs;" but there was one sin he would not give 
up, and so he slid back into his old ways. The 
young ruler, who came to Jesus, was quite in 
earnest at first; but when he found that he must 
give up all for Christ, he slid back, choosing his 
"great possessions" instead of the salvation of his 



"pliable" converts. 121 

soul. Some of Christ's disciples, who had fol- 
lowed him for some time, when he preached some 
doctrine that displeased them, " went back, and 
walked no more with him" (John 6: QQ). All 
these had some awakening or conviction, although 
they were never truly converted. They seemed 
to set out to seek God ; but they slid back. Bun- 
yan, in the "Pilgrim's Progress," describes one 
Pliable^ who was easily persuaded to go on a pil- 
grimage, but turned back as soon as he found any 
difficulty in the way. There are many such in 
these days. Their attention is called to the sub- 
ject of religion. They are afraid of losing their 
souls. They feel serious. They think they would 
like to have religion, so that they may not be 
afraid to die. They begin to pray ; but they 
soon tire, and slide back, and become more care- 
less than ever. Thus they are " filled with their 
own ways," and, as Christ says, "their last state 
is worse than their first." The way to avoid this 
kind of backsliding is, by deciding immediately to 
come to Christ. Let them give up all for his sake, 
and make up their minds at once to follow him. 

If you were climbing up a steep and icy hill, it 

11 



122 SAUL JUDAS. 

would be dangerous for you to stop and look 
back. If your head should become dizzy, and 
your feet lose your hold, you might slide back to 
the bottom and be dashed in pieces. And, if you 
slide back after being awakened, and setting out 
to seek God, you are in danger of being lost for- 
ever. 

There is another class, who seem to set out 
well. They think they have become Christians, 
and appear so to others. Sometimes they go so 
far as to make a public profession. But from all 
these hopes and favorable appearances they slide 
back. We have a number of examples of this 
kind in the holy Scriptures. When Saul was 
called to be king of Israel, he at first appeared to 
be a pious young man ; and for some time he went 
on in the ways of obedience, and was prospered 
and blessed. But he slid back from these ways, 
was disobedient to God, disappointed all the hopes 
that had been raised of him, and finally be- 
came capricious, unjust, malicious, revengeful — a 
thoroughly bad man. Judas was a disciple of 
Christ, and during the whole of his ministry he 
appeared so well as to deceive his fellow-disciples ; 



STONY-GROUND 6EARERS. 123 

but suddenly he slid back so far as to betray his 
master and destroy his own life. Ananias and 
Sapphira made a profession of religion, and ap- 
peared so well that they were received into, the 
church by the apostles. But soon they slid back, 
and attempted to deceive the apostles, so as to get 
credit for liberality which they did not exercise. 
Simon Magus, when he heard the gospel, believed 
it, and professed to be converted. But he soon 
showed that his heart was not changed, by offering 
money to the apostles for the power of working 
miracles. And he became afterwards the head of 
a sect, Avho taught false doctrines in the name of 
Christ. All these were backsliders from an ap- 
pearance and a profession of religion. But they 
were never truly converted. They either deceived 
themselves, or attempted to deceive others. This 
class of professors is rej)resented by Christ, in the 
parable of the sower, as stony-ground hearers. 
Sometimes you will find in a field a flat rock, 
covered over with earth a few inches deep. In 
the spring this earth is moist, and the sun heats 
the rock, and the seed sown there springs up very 
quick, and grows fresh and green. But, in a little 



124 BLOSSOMS AND FRUIT. 

time, when the sun continues to shine strong upon 
it, the earth dries, and the green leaves wither 
and die. Whenever there is any general awaken- 
ing among the people, there w^ill be persons who 
seem to be converted, and appear well for a little 
while, and then fall away. So, also, if you exam- 
ine the fruit trees, when they first bloom, you will 
find the blossoms very thick, and they look alike. 
But after the blossoms fall off, and you look for 
the young fruit, you will find a great many of 
them have left nothing but a dry stem. They 
appeared as well as the rest while in blossom, but 
produced no frait. These are backsliders from 
the appearance and profession of religion. They 
shall be "filled Avith their own ways." "The 
hypocrite's hope shall perish ;" his "hope shall 
be as the giving up of the ghost" (Job 8:13; 
11 : 20). 

The way to guard against this kind of backslid- 
ing, is, to search well the foundations of your 
hope. " Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice 
with trembling." And if, on examination, you 
suspect that you may be deceived, do not give up 
in despair, and slide back to your former careless 



man's strength insufficient. 125 

state ; but go immediately to Christ, as if you 
had never been before. If you have been de- 
ceived, still Jesus invites you to come to him. 
But if your self-examination confirms your hope, 
still " watch ; " for "The heart is deceitful above 
all things, and desperately wicked." 

But, it is not impossible for a true Christian to 
hacJcsUde, He will not fall away entirely; for the 
apostle Peter says that true Christians " are kept 
by the power of God, through faith, wito salva- 
tion,^'^ But, sometimes, God leaves his people to 
try their own strength, ^ and then they fall and 
slide back. Or, rather, perhaps I should say, 
they forget their dependence on his grace, and 
attempt to go on in their own strength. Thus 
David, and Solomon, and Hezekiah, and Peter, 
when they fell into sin, were backsliders. And so 
were some of the seven churches in Asia, of whom 
it is said they had left their first love^ or fallen 
into evil practices. You will find this kind of 
backsliding aptly described by Bunyan, in the 
account he gives of Christian and Hopeful, who 
turned aside to find an easier path, and soon 

found themselves in deep waters. It is true of 

11* 



126 Paul's counsel. 

this kind of backsliders, that they are " filled with 
their own ways." Backsliding begins in the heart; 
but it does not end there. The "backslider in 
heart " falls into sin, as David and Peter ; and if 
he is recovered, he passes through terrible convic- 
tions and distress, such as David describes in the 
thirty-eighth and fifty-first Psalms, and as Bunyan 
describes, when his pilgrims were overtaken by 
" Giant Despair ; " or, perhaps, as in the case of 
Hezekiah and Solomon, they die under a cloud. 
We have a clear account given of their piety in early 
life, and of their sin in their old age. But nothing 
is said of their repentance ; and their memory is 
left in a cloud. It is supposed that Solomon wrote 
the book of Ecclesiastes after he had repented. 
But the Bible does not distinctly inform us. It is 
sad for one w^ho has shone as a bright light thus 
to go out in obscure darkness. 

The apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Colos- 
sians, shows us how we may keep from backslid- 
ing : "^5 ye have received Christ Jesics^ so walk ye 
in him." Keep to Christ. Go to him continually, 
every day, just as you did at first, for pardon, for 
grace, and for strength. The first beginning of 



THE ONLY WAY. 127 

backsliding is self-confidence and the love of ease. 
The little child who has just begun to go alone, 
keeps hold of its mother's hand, and she holds him 
up. But, when he begins to think he can stand 
alone, and lets go his hold, he falls. We can 
never go alone, in this life. We must take hold 
on the strength of Christ. But, after a while, the 
young Christian begins to think that he is so well 
established that there is no danger. He ceases to 
watch. He becomes an easy prey to temptation. 
He falls into sin. This shuts up the way to God. 
He cannot pray. He goes about to reform, think- 
ing that he will do better^ and then he can pray. 
But he only sinks deeper in the mire. 

The only way to be recovered from backsliding 
is, to return to God^ in the same way that we first 
went to him. The Lord, sent this message to his 
ancient people, by the prophet Jeremiah : ^^Return^ 
thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord ; and I will 
not cause mine anger to fall upon you : for I am 
merciful, saith the Lord, and will not keep anger 
forever." This was David's experience. He says : 
"I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine in- 
iquity I have not hid. I said, I will confess my 



128 LOOK UPWARD. 

transgression unto the Lord ; and thou forgavest 
the iniquity of my sinP And in Christ's ad- 
dresses to the churches of Asia, all those whom he 
rebukes for sin, he encourages with the hope of 
forgiveness, if they will repent and turn to hira. 

It is a very great sin to backslide from God. 
How ungrateful it is, after all his goodness in 
awakening us, and perhaps, as in the last-men- 
tioned case, renewing our hearts, that we should 
turn away from him ! But, so long as our hearts 
are not wholly purified, sin is constantly dragging 
us downward. As the Lord says of his ancient 
people, we are '' bent to backslide'''' from him. We 
need, therefore, to be continually looking upward, 
with Avatchfulness and prayer, keeping our hearts, 
that we may not turn away from the Lord. 



CHAPTER XII. 

god's care of the sparrows. 

In the tenth chapter of Matthew, Jesus, address- 
ing his disciples, says : " Are not two sparrows 
sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall 
on the ground without your Father. But the 
A^ery hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear 
ye not, therefore, ye are of more value than many 
sparrows." The same God who made the sun, 
also created a grain of sand. He who "spread out 
the heavens as a curtain," and hung up ten thou- 
sand lamps in the sky, also painted the delicate 
tint of the rose, and adorned and beautified the 
tiny flower, so little that its beauties cannot be 
seen by the naked eye. The same hand that 
made the elephant, formed those little creatures 
that inhabit the leaves of the forest, or the flowers 
of the garden ; and the same power that created 
the great whales that swim in the sea like ships. 



130 WONDERS OF CREATION. 

also made those minute creatures, thousands of 
which sport in a drop of water. The tiny insect 
displays his skill. It is perfect in all its parts. It 
is full of beauty. The wings of the butterfly are 
l^ainted with a delicacy of touch and beauty of 
finish which the most skilful artist cannot copy. 
All these are his handiwork; while the earth, 
the sun, moon, and stars, the workmanship of the 
same hand, show forth his j^ower. 

When David thought of these things, he ex- 
claimed, " O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! 
In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is 
full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, 
wherein are things creeping innumerable, both 
small and great beasts." 

But not only has he displayed his wisdom and 
power in the work of creation. He manifests his 
goodness, in " upholding all things by the word of 
his power." His care and providence extend to 
all things. Nothing in his wide dominion has he 
left to itself. This globe is great. If you were 
to walk ten miles every day, it would take you 
seven years to walk round it. But if you look up 
in the sky, you see more worlds than you can 



god's care over his creatures. 131 

count, most of them much larger than the earth, 
allrollmg through the sky, and yet not touching 
one another. God has appointed to every one its 
course, and with his almighty poAver he keeps 
them all in their courses, so that they never jostle 
or disturb one another. And you would think 
that the care of such mighty worlds Avould take 
his attention, so that he could not look after little 
things. A man who is very full of business, will 
not stop to mind little things. If a little child 
goes to his father when he is very busy, and be- 
gins to prattle and ask questions, he will say: "Go 
away, for I am busy." But not so our heavenly 
Father. While he holds ten thousand times ten 
thousand worlds in his hand, he looks after the 
little sparrow, which is among the smallest of the 
feathered tribe that he has made to " sino; among: 
the branches." And so careful is he of his crea- 
tures, that he counts every little hair on the head 
of the little child ! The insect that floats in the 
air is an object of God's regard, as well as the 
mighty angel who bows before his throne. And 
if he cares for these, will he not care for little 
children? 



132 GOD DIRECTS ALL THINGS. 

IsTotliing Iiai323ens without God's direction or per- 
mission. Not a sparrow shall be killed, or flill on 
the ground, without God. But suppose a man 
shoots the sparrow, or a boy throws a stone and 
kills it, does God order it ? Yes ; he uses the man 
or the boy to do what he would have done, though 
the one who does it may do it wickedly. Peter 
said to those who crucified Christ : " Him, being 
delivered hy the determinate counsel and fore- 
Jcnoioledge of God^ ye have taken, and hy vncJced 
hands^ have crucified and slain." Though God 
designed that Jesus should be crucified to save 
us from our sins, and though he did not use his 
power to prevent the Jews doing it, yet they did 
it loickedly. God allowed Satan to afiiict Job, that 
he might be tried, and his character proved ; yet 
Satan did it wickedly. 

God orders everything that happens to you, no 
matter by whom it is done. He directs not only 
the event itself, but everything that leads to it. 
When a sparrow falls to the ground, it is by God's 
direction ; and he appoints all the means by which 
it is brought about. So he orders everything that 
happens to you. 



FOREORDINATION. 133 

God ordered the time and place of your hirth. 
Why were you not born in India, or China, or 
Africa? Why not before Christ came into the 
world ? Thousands and tens of thousands of chil- 
dren, both before and since the coming of Christ, 
have been born of heathen parents. Why were 
you not among them? — Because God ordered 
otherwise. 

Why were you not among those children who 
were burnt up in the wicked city of Sodom? 
Why were you not born before the flood ? Why 
were you not among those that perished in the 
flood? — Because it j^leased God otherwise to direct. 
He also directed all the circumstances which led 
to your being born in this Christian land. Away 
back, many ages ago, he sent missionaries among 
your rude and barbarous Saxon ancestors who 
offered human sacrifices to their idols. He jDut it 
into the hearts of our fathers to come to this 
country. Here he has raised up churches, and free- 
schools, and Sabbath-schools,' and given you the 
advantage of them all. 

So, likewise, God has ordered everything that 
has happened to you since you were born ; and 

12 



184 



he gives you, day by day, everything you have. 
Do you say, "My father provides for me ? " Who 
gave you a father to provide for you ? And who 
keeps him ahve ? And who gives him ability to 
supply your wants ? God supports him, and gives 
him skill and strength to labor for your support. 
Everything you receive, as truly comes from God 
as if you saw his hand stretched out to bestow it 
upon you. 

If you meet with an accident, and get hurt, it is 
God's hand that does it. " But, will a kind Father 
injure his children ? " If they disobey him, he will 
chastise them. He will do it, both for their good 
and to maintain his authority. We have all dis- 
obeyed God ; and when any evil comes upon us, it 
is God chastising us for our sins. Yet, even in 
this he is merciful ; for he punishes us less than we 
deserve. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are 
not consumed." Even if some wicked boy injures 
you, still it is God's hand. He employs the wicked 
to chastise his people, and he may employ a wicked 
person to chastise you. The wicked person does 
it wickedly — from hatred, for revenge, or for mis- 
chief. But he could do nothing without God's 



AN AFRICAN BOY. 135 

permission. And when God permits him to injure 
you, it is for a wise purpose. That very thing 
which he does may be connected with something 
else, in the providence of God, which may be the 
greatest blessing that could happen to you. In 
Africa, a boy was taken and sold for a slave. A 
British ship captured the slave-ship on which they 
put this boy, and he was carried to Sierra Leone, 
and placed in a school under the charge of a mis- 
sionary. There he learned to read. There he 
heard the gospel. He became a Christian. Then 
he thanked God for sending the slave-catcher to 
take him and put him on the slave-ship, because 
by it be had become acquainted with the gospel. 
And he prayed that the Lord would send a slaver 
to catch his father and mother ; and that they also 
might be captured and brought to Sierra Leone, 
that they, too, might hear the gospel and be saved. 
And he used to go to the sea-shore every day, to 
watch the ships, and see if his prayers were not 
answered. At length he saw a ship coming. He 
rejoiced, for he believed the promises of God, and 
he expected his prayer would be answered. And, 
sure enough, when the vessel came in, his father 



136 SAMUEL CROWTHER. 

and mother were there. And as soon as they 
heard of Jesns, and understood the meaning of 
the story of the cross, they too became Christians. 
Another bright little boy was sold to a slaver, 
and captured and brought into Sierra Leone, and 
placed in the mission school. There he was con- 
verted to Christ ; and he proved so apt at learn- 
ing, that the missionaries sent him to London to 
be educated. When he had completed his educa- 
tion, he was ordained by the Bishop of London, 
and sent back to Africa as a missionary. And 
when it was determined to establish a new mission 
in the Yoruba country, where he came from, they 
sent out this young man, whose name was Samuel 
Crowther, as their first missionary. There he 
found his own mother, and preached Jesus to her, 
and she, too, became a Christian. Now, though it 
is a very wicked thing to catch people and make 
them slaves, yet, in these cases, under the overrul- 
ing providence of God, it became a great blessing 
to those young men. The word of God says ; 
" The wrath of man shall praise him, and the 
remainder will he restrain." The severest trials 
sometimes prove the richest blessings. 



JOHN WILLIAMS. 137 

Let me give you another example : A young 
man in London, a son of pious parents, had got 
into bad company, and become hardened in sin. 
One Sabbath he had made an appointment with 
some of his wicked companions, to meet them 
at a certain place on the street, to go and spend 
the evening of God's holy day in dissipation. He 
was at the place agreed upon at the appointed 
time. But his companions were not there. If 
they had fulfilled their appointment punctually, 
it is probable that he would have gone on in a 
course of wickedness, to his ruin. But, while he 
stood waiting for them, with some impatience, a 
lady came along, on her way to church, and in- 
vited him to accompany her to the house of God ; 
which, after some urging, he did. And there he 
heard a sermon from the text, "What shall it 
profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and 
lose his own soul ? " He was awakened, and led 
to embrace the Saviour. And this young man 
was John Williams, who afterwards became a 
missionary to the South Sea Islands, and was 
the means of converting thousands of the heathen, 

himself finally falling a victim to the cannibals. 

12^ 



138 GOODNESS OF GOD. 

And do you suppose it was by a mere accident 
that his companions were delayed till the lady 
passed ? No ; it was the hand of the Lord. It 
was one link in the chain of God's providence in 
raising up a devoted missionary. And another 
link in the same chain led his parents previously 
to place him at a business which gave him a me- 
chanical education, and so fitted him for those 
adventures among the islands, in which he had 
to forge his own iron and build his own ships. 

In like manner the Lord directs everything that 
concerns you. He controls the air you breathe ; 
and he directs whether it shall send life and vigor 
through your body, or whether it shall carry to 
your vitals the seeds of disease. When you take 
medicine, he directs whether it shall be blessed to 
your recovery, or whether the disease shall go on, 
unchecked, till it takes your life. David, after 
speaking of the goodness of God to his creatures, 
says : " These wait all upon thee ; that thou givest 
them they gather ; thou openest thine hand, they 
are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they 
are troubled. Thou takest away their breath, they 
die and return to their dust." 



RESIGNATION.^ 139 

Now, since we are in God's hands, we should 
he at peace ivith Mm, We cannot be at peace with 
him unless our sins are pardoned. How dreadful, 
to be absolutely in the hands of one with whom 
we are at enmity ! He can, if he pleases, consume 
us in a moment ; and the reason why he does not, 
is that he is long-suffering and of great mercy. 

But, if we are at peace with God, it is a delight- 
ful thing to see his hand in everything, and to 
know that he cares for us. JBe humble^ seeing all 
you have comes from him, and you can take no 
credit to yourself for anything that you have above 
others. Be tJianJcfid for what you have, seeing it 
comes from God's hand. Be submissive^ and con- 
tented with your lot, since God knows better than 
you what is for your good. In whatever condition 
you find yourself, it is the one that he has chosen 
for you ; and if you serve him in it, he will make 
you happy in the enjoyment of his favor and love. 
But, if you are discontented, and fret and rejDine, 
you will be unhappy ; and yet, as Christ says, you 
cannot add one cubit to your stature, nor make one 
hair white or black. 

Watch God's providence by faith ; see his hand 



140 



in everything. Thus you will live, as Paul says, ''as 
seeing him that is invisible." See his hand in little 
things as well as great ; and do not think, because 
you are a little child, that your affairs are too small 
for him to notice. He takes care of the little 
sparrows, and do you think he will not take care 
of the little children as well ? Your guardian an- 
gels, Christ says, " do always behold the face of 
your Father in heaven." You are surrounded by 
good angels, whom he has sent to take care of you. 
The least thing that interests you, he will allow 
you to bring to him, if you fear, and love, and 
trust in him ; "For the angel of the Lord encamp- 
eth round about them that fear him, and delivereth 
them." We read in the Bible that the king of 
Syria sent an army to take the prophet Elisha; and 
when his servant saw them, he cried out, " Alas, 
my master ! how shall we do ? " But Elisha an- 
swered, "Fear not; for they that be with us are 
more than they that be against us." Then the 
prophet prayed that the Lord would open the eyes 
of his servant. " And the Lord opened the eyes 
of the young man ; and he saw, and behold, the 
mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire 



WATCH OVER CHILDREN. 141 

round about Elisha." So, if God would open your 
eyes, you might see the angels that are round 
about you, to guard you from evil and keep you 
from harm. The angels are ministering spirits, 
sent forth to minister to them that shall be heirs 
of salvation. And if you are a child of God, you 
are an heir of salvation, and he cares enough for 
you to give his angels charge concerning you to 
keep you. All the way through life they will 
watch over you ; and, when your spirit leaves your 
body, they will accompany you to j)aradise, and 
introduce you to the comjDany of the redeemed. 
And they will watch over your dust till the morn- 
ing of the resurrection, when your body shall be 
quickened, raised up, united with your soul again, 
and you "made perfectly blessed, in the full enjoy- 
ment of God, to all eternitv." 



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